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
_Mouth._--The labrum, as in the hermaphrodite, is highly bullate, and
far removed from the adductor scutorum muscle. The _Palpi_ are small and
triangular, with their blunt apices clothed with a very few scattered
bristles.
_Mandibles_, with only three teeth, and the lower angle minute, slightly
pectinated; the first tooth is distant from the second, and larger than
it. Width of the whole organ, .0021 of an inch.
_Maxillæ_, bearing only a few spines, furnished with a long apodeme;
beneath the upper large pair there is a notch, under which there are two
spines of considerable size and a small tuft of fine bristles; width
.001 of an inch, and therefore only 1/16th of the size of the same organ
in the hermaphrodite: the relative sizes of the maxillæ and mandibles
are the same in the male and hermaphrodite.
_Outer Maxillæ_ blunt, triangular, with a few thinly-scattered bristles
on the inner face; those on the outside being longer.
_Cirri._--The First pair is far removed from the second; the rami are
very short, barely exceeding the pedicel in length; they are formed of
only four segments, each bearing a pair of spines; but on the end of the
terminal segment, there are three spines, of which the central one is
very long. Second pair also short. In the sixth pair there are five or
six elongated segments, each bearing three pair of long spines; dorsal
tufts large. The cirri are furnished with transversely-striated muscles.
The _Caudal Appendages_ exist as two very minute plates, with a few
bristles at their apices.
The _Penis_ is not acuminated, with four bristles at the end; it is
short, equalling only the lower segment of the pedicel of the sixth
cirrus. In the one specimen preserved in spirits, I unfortunately
omitted to search for the vesiculæ seminales; I cannot doubt that such
existed, but it would have been important to have ascertained whether
they contained spermatozoa. I made out, most distinctly, that there was
no trace of ovarian tubes within the peduncle; and my assertion may be
believed when I state, that I traced the two much finer and more
transparent cement-ducts, from the prehensile antennæ up to the body of
the animal: in Lepas I have _repeatedly_ detected, with ease, the
ovarian tubes within the peduncle, before the calcification of the
valves had even commenced, and therefore at a much earlier period of
growth than in these parasites. Consequently I am prepared to affirm,
that these parasites are not females, but that, as far as can be judged,
from external organs, they are exclusively males.
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