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
The _Cirri_ are developed at first of considerable length, so that the
young animal may soon provide itself with food; in _Lepas australis_
they are of great length, the sixth pair consisting of seventeen or
eighteen obscure segments. The extreme tips of the twenty-four rami of
the six pair of cirri, are formed within the twenty-four, corresponding,
little, bi-segmental rami of the six pair of natatory legs; but as the
cirri are many times longer than these legs, they occupy in a bundle
the whole thorax of the larva; no part whatever of the thorax of the
Cirripede is formed within the thorax of the larva, but (together with
the pedicels of the anterior cirri) within the cephalic cavity. As a
consequence of this, the longitudinal axis of the thorax of the young
Cirripede lies almost transversely to the longitudinal axis of the
larva; and the Cirripede, from this transverse position of its thorax,
comes to be, as it were, internally, almost cut in twain, and the sack
thus produced. As soon as the young Cirripede is free and can move
itself, the cirri are curled up, and the thorax is advanced towards the
orifice of the capitulum, its longitudinal axis resuming the position of
approximate parallelism to the longitudinal axis of the whole body,
which it had in the larval condition. The reader will, perhaps,
understand what I mean, if he will look at the mature Cirripede, figured
in Pl. IX, fig. 4. In this, he will see that the body or thorax is
united to the peduncle only by a small part below the mouth; on the
other hand, if he imagines the whole bottom of the body (as high up as
the letter _h_) united and blended into the peduncle, he will see the
state in which these parts exist in the larva. Now, let him greatly
shorten the cirri, so as to resemble the natatory legs of the larva, and
then imagine a young Cirripede, with cirri _of full length_, formed
within the old one, he will see that the new thorax supporting the cirri
will have to be developed in an almost transverse position,--the animal
consequently being internally almost separated into twain.
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