A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated CirripedesDarwin, Charles
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A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated Cirripedes
Darwin, Charles
Cirripedia; Lepadidae
In a var. (called by Leach, _P. Donovani_,) from the Atlantic, under the
Equator, the carina is remarkable from the extreme flatness of the upper
part, and from the presence of an exterior, narrow, central ridge. In
one specimen from Jersey, in the British Museum, the carina made an
extremely near approach to this same form.
_Affinities._--This species is certainly much the most distinct of any
in the genus, and Mr. Gray has proposed to separate it under the name of
Dosima; but considering the close similarity of the whole organisation
of the internal parts, together with the transitional characters
afforded by _L. australis_, I think the grounds for this separation are
not quite sufficient. I have remarked, under _L. australis_, on the
affinity between that and the present species. In the carina terminating
in a disc (though here not imbedded), there is some slight affinity to
_Pæcilasma eburnea_ and _crassa_, and markedly so in the arrangement of
the bristles on the posterior cirri. In the valves being covered with
villose membrane, and to a certain extent in the form of the carina and
of the occludent margin of the terga, and especially in the two rows of
cement-orifices in the peduncle, there is some affinity to Scalpellum.
PÆCILASMA. _Nov. Genus._[30] Plate II.
ANATIFA. _J. E. Gray._ Proc. Zoolog. Soc., 1848, p. 44.
TRILASMIS. _Hinds._ Voyage of the Sulphur. Mollusca, 1844.
[30] [Greek: Pokilos], various, and [Greek: elasma], plate or
valve. I have not been able to adopt Mr. Hinds’ name for this
genus, as it would be too glaringly incorrect to call a
five-valved species, a _Trilasmis_.
_Valvæ, 3, 5, aut 7, approximatæ: carina solùm ad basales apices
tergorum extensa, termino basali aut truncato aut in discum profunde
infossum producto: scuta pænè ovalia, umbonibus ad angulum rostralem
positis._
Valves, 3, 5, or 7, approximate: carina extending only to the basal
points of the terga; with its lower end either truncated or produced
into a deeply imbedded disc. Scuta nearly oval, with their umbones at
the rostral angle.
Mandibles with four teeth; maxillæ notched, with the lower part of edge
prominent; anterior ramus of the second cirrus not thicker than the
posterior ramus; caudal appendages uniarticulate, spinose.
Generally attached to Crustacea.
I have already given my reasons for instituting and separating this
genus from Lepas; as far as the capitulum is concerned, the differences
between these genera certainly appear trivial; they consist in the
carina not extending up between the terga, and in the lower end being
either truncated, or produced into an imbedded disc: the terga have a
single occludent margin. The included animal’s body differs in more
important respects; for both mandibles and maxillæ are very distinct;
the cirri of some of the species also differ; and the caudal appendages
are here always spinose: there are no filamentary appendages: and
lastly, the habits are different.
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