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
_Shell yellowish white. Scutum striated longitudinally: tergum with the
spur truncated, the basi-carinal margin generally much hollowed out,
and the carinal margin protuberant in the upper part._
_Hab._--United States, from about lat. 42° to Charlestown; West
Indies; Honduras; Venezuela; attached to shells and floating wood.
Attached to ships' bottoms from Trinidad and Jamaica, associated with
_B. tintinnabulum_, _amphitrite_, and _improvisus_. Brackish water,
Salem, Massachussetts, according to Mr. Stimpson. Mus. Aug. Gould,
Agassiz, Stutchbury, Cuming, W. Dunker, &c.; very common.
_General Appearance._--Shell conical, or almost tubular; white, with
the surface very smooth, covered by thin yellowish epidermis, but
with the radii naked. Orifice large, passing from rhomboidal into
pentagonal, moderately toothed. Average full size, about one inch in
basal diameter; I have seen a specimen 1.3 in basal diameter, and the
same in height.
_Scutum_, plainly striated longitudinally: the teeth on the occludent
margin small. Internally, the upper surface is roughened: the
articular ridge is prominent, and either slightly or not at all
reflexed: the pit for the adductor muscle is distinct; the adductor
ridge is prominent in a variable degree, and is almost confluent
with the articular ridge. In one specimen from Beverly Bay, U. S.,
the scuta were extraordinarily disintegrated, and I could perceive
no trace of the external radiating striæ. _Tergum_, with the basal
margin on the carinal side of the spur sometimes deeply (Pl. 5, fig.
4 _b_), and sometimes only slightly (fig. 4 _d_), and rarely hardly
at all, hollowed out: when much hollowed out the valve may almost
be said to be two-pronged, with the carinal prong narrower than
the spur. There is no distinct longitudinal furrow, but the whole
scutal margin projects above the general surface of the valve. In the
carinal margin, in the upper part, there is a remarkable convexity
or protuberance in the same plane with the valve, from which it
is separated by a very slight and narrow ridge. The spur is about
one fourth of the width of the valve, with its lower end abruptly
truncated. Internally, the upper surface is much roughened with
finely crenated ridges: the distinct crests for the depressores cover
the whole of the so-called carinal prong.
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