A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated CirripedesDarwin, Charles
Science
A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated Cirripedes
Darwin, Charles
Cirripedia; Lepadidae
Length of ultimate segment 6/6000
Breadth of ultimate segment beneath the notch 7/20000
Breadth of ultimate segment above the notch 5/20000
I did not see the cement-ducts, which, perhaps, was owing to the corium
extending from the inside of the whole animal some way into the antennæ,
thus rendering them rather less transparent than in common Cirripedes.
That the ducts and cement-glands exist, is certain, for the antennæ in
every case were enveloped in a little irregular mass or capsule of the
usual, brown, transparent, laminated cement. When several of these
parasites were attached close together, the cement ran up between them.
I may here state, that I found on one Scalpellum, three males very
lately attached, and not as yet imbedded in the chitine border; they
were white, opaque, pulpy, and full of oily globules; the lower part was
considerably more pointed, and extended further beyond the prehensile
antennæ, than in the older and imbedded specimens. There were distinct
remnants of two great reddish-brown eyes, showing that in this respect
the larvæ of the male in their last stage of development, are
characterised like the larvæ of other Lepadidæ. The male larva would,
probably, be a little larger than the male itself; but yet compared with
the larva in the earliest stage, there can have been unusually little
increase of size during the several intermediate metamorphoses; I judge
of this from the dimensions of the larva of the hermaphrodite in the
first stage, namely, 9/400ths of an inch, exactly the size of some of
the smaller males. In the allied genus Ibla, the increase is also less
than is usual, namely, from 15/1000ths of an inch, the diameter of the
ovum, to only 25/1000ths of an inch, the length of the boat-shaped
larva, just before its final metamorphosis.
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