A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2): The Balanidæ, (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc., etc.Darwin, Charles
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A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2): The Balanidæ, (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc., etc.
Darwin, Charles
Balanidae; Cirripedia
In the Balanidæ, or sessile Cirripedes, the young animal, immediately
after the metamorphosis, or still better if dissected out of the
pupal carapace, as I succeeded in doing with _Balanus balanoides_,
may be said to be pedunculated; for it is attached by a little disc
of cement closely surrounding the antennæ, the rest of the membranous
basis forming an almost semi-globular, flexible peduncle. The valves,
at this the earliest period, are all membranous, and do not overlap
each other. In the Balaninæ they do not present the peculiar structure
of the primordial valves of the Lepadidæ; but in the Chthamalinæ, in
Chthamalus, I saw traces of this structure. Calcareous valves are
soon formed under the membranous valves. The opercular valves, at
this early period, are much larger than the valves or compartments
of the shell, which are only four in number, for the carino-lateral
compartments are not yet formed. The compartments from the first are
surprisingly strong, and have their alæ already formed and overlapped
by the adjoining compartments; but of the radii there is as yet no
trace. The four compartments form a narrow but nearly circular hoop,
which, from its relatively large diameter, tends to draw down the
upper or posterior end of the animal, now forming the opercular valves;
and as the basis soon becomes throughout cemented to the surface of
attachment, the young Cirripede is much depressed. Soon the opercular
valves are drawn a little way down within the shell, becoming attached
to the sheath, instead of, as at first, to the very summits of the
compartments. In regard to the changes which take place in the shell,
in the number of the segments in the cirri, and in the number of spines
borne on these segments, &c., during the continued growth of the
animal, as they are chiefly important for the identification of the
species, I will here refer to a discussion on this subject under the
head of the Genus Balanus.
_On the Homologies of the Carapace and Shelly Valves._
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