A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2): The Balanidæ, (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc., etc.Darwin, Charles
Science
A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2): The Balanidæ, (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc., etc.
Darwin, Charles
Balanidae; Cirripedia
The second province includes the west coast of North and South America,
from Tierra del Fuego to Behring's Straits: on this enormously long
line of coast, only 22 species are known to exist, but of these no
less than 15 are peculiar. Of these 15, four are not found south of
the torrid equatorial region, and eight are not known to occur north
of this same region; so that this long line of coast might have been
divided into two sub-provinces, of which the southern would have been
the most peculiar; but as eight species are found both north and south
of the equatorial region, I have not made this sub-division. Two of
the species occurring on the western coast of North America, seem to
represent species found on its eastern coast, and in Europe; thus,
_Balanus glandula_ takes the places of _B. crenatus_, and _B. cariosus_
that of _B. balanoides_. Not a single species, excepting a few which
are also widely distributed over other parts of the world, is known to
be common to the east and west coasts of the two Americas.
The third province is that of the East Indian Archipelago, and includes
the Philippines, Borneo, New Guinea, Sumatra, Java, Malacca, and the
eastern coast of India. Here we find 37 species, of which 24 are
peculiar. I may remark, that I have received no species from Madagascar
or the eastern coast of Africa; few from India, or from the coast of
China; and I suspect, that on most of these coasts, only few exist.
Probably our third province will hereafter be found to include the
whole Indian Ocean.
The fourth province is that of Australia, including New Zealand: it
has 30 species, of which 21 are peculiar. Had the temperate Australian
coasts (_i. e._, those south of the isocryme of 68°) been alone
considered, the number of the species would have been probably 25, of
which 20 would have been peculiar,--that is, if we admit within the
20, several species which range from the temperate into the torrid
zone, but do not extend beyond the Australian shores. Owing to the
widely-extended ranges of most Cirripedes, no Arctic or Antarctic
provinces can be said to exist.
To recapitulate the above results, bearing in mind that, although the
total number of known existing Cirripedes is 147, yet that the habitats
of seven are unknown, and that eighteen are excluded owing to their
being attached to floating or swimming objects, so that there are only
122 species referred to in the following table:
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