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
genera amongst the Chthamalinæ and certain genera of the Lepadidæ.
Thirdly, the scuta and terga in Pollicipes, so strikingly resemble
in manner of growth in position relatively to the animal's body--in
shape--and even in being articulated together, the valves which form
the operculum or lid of sessile Cirripedes, that their identity is at
once obvious.
[20] Dr. J. E. Gray long ago observed these homologies. If Lepas be
taken, the comparison is not quite so simple, owing to the growth
of all the valves in that genus being upwards; but in several
species of Scalpellum we may see the intermediate steps between
the normal downward growth of the valves in Pollicipes, and the
abnormal upward growth in Lepas.
It may be well here further to premise, that apparently none of the
sutures in the shells of Cirripedes correspond with the articulations
between the three archetype cephalic segments, of which the whole shell
is formed; or with the eight elemental pieces, of which each separate
segment in the archetype crustacean is known to consist. But, as I
believe, the several valves in the shell of a Cirripede are homologous,
or at least analogous, with the sclerodermic plates,[21] of which
the carapace of the Podophthalmia is formed; with this difference,
that in the latter they become, after their first formation, united
together into a single piece, and are thus moulted as a whole; whereas
in Cirripedes, the valves or sclerodermic plates are not moulted, but
continue to be added to throughout life.
[21] Milne Edwards, 'Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' tom. xviii,
(1852), p. 236.
In Pollicipes, there is no difficulty in understanding the growth of
the lower valves of the capitulum, especially if a species be taken
in which these valves stand a little way apart: at each period of
growth, they are added to at their basal edges and a little way up
both sides; at the same time, a new membrane connecting them together
is formed, the old membrane disintegrating, or being left hanging in
tatters to the last zone of growth. Now if we look at the shell of
a sessile Cirripede, there is no essential difference in the growth
of the compartments or valves; all grow downwards and laterally; but
they overlap each other much more laterally than in Pollicipes, and
the connecting membrane is in most parts reduced to a mere film jammed
in between the valves; but, in the case of the opercular membrane, it
still remains wide, and is periodically moulted.
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