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
All Cirripedia grow rapidly: the yawl of H. M. S. _Beagle_ was lowered
into the water, at the Galapagos Archipelago, on the 15th of September,
and, after an interval of exactly thirty-three days, was hauled in: I
found on her bottom, a specimen of _Conchoderma virgata_ with the
capitulum and peduncle, each half an inch in length, and the former
7/20ths in width: this is half the size of the largest specimen I have
seen of this species: several other individuals, not half the size of
the above, contained numerous ova in their lamellæ, ready to burst
forth. Supposing the larva of the largest specimen became attached the
first day the boat was put into the water, we have the metamorphosis, an
increase of length from about .05, the size of the larva, to an whole
inch, and the laying of probably several sets of eggs, all effected in
thirty-three days. From this rapid growth, repeated exuviations must be
requisite. Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast, kept twenty specimens of
_Balanus balanoides_, a form of much slower growth, alive, and on the
twelfth day he found the twenty-first integument, showing that all had
moulted once, and one individual twice within this period. I may here
add, that the pedunculated Cirripedes never attain so large a bulk as
the sessile; _Lepas anatifera_ is sometimes sixteen inches in length,
but of this, the far greater portion consists of the peduncle.
_Pollicipes mitella_ is the most massive kind; I have seen a specimen
with a capitulum 2.3 of an inch in width.
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