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
inwards till they entirely take the place of the true membranous basis.
_Structure of the Radii._
_Radius._--This term, as we have seen, is applied to that side of the
compartment, the growth of which is modified, by abutting against and
overlapping the adjoining compartment. Hence the structure of the
radius is essentially the same with that of the parietal portion of the
compartment. When best developed, as in _Balanus tintinnabulum_, the
radius consists of an outer and inner lamina, separated by denticulated
septa, extending in horizontal lines parallel to the basis, and is
consequently perforated by minute tubes or pores. The tubes become
filled up solidly much more commonly than do the parietal tubes; and
the inner lamina, in such cases, is hardly distinct from the outer
lamina. The denticuli often fail, or are present only on the lower
sides of the septa; and very frequently the edge of the radius can only
be said to be crenated. Notwithstanding these frequent anomalies, if a
series of species and genera be taken, it is certain that there is, as
might have been expected, a close relationship in internal structure,
between the radii and the parietes. The edge of the radius is received
in a slight furrow (generally marked like a seal, with the impression
of the denticulated septa) in the opposed compartment: sometimes the
outer edge or lid of the recipient furrow, is so broad as to give the
false appearance of a radius having been developed, at least in the
lower part of the shell, on both sides of the suture. A crest of corium
runs into each suture between the edge of the radius and the furrow in
the opposed compartment; and when the radius is permeated by pores (as
in woodcut 10), threads of corium branch off this crest, and enter the
pores. In the lower part of the shell, these crests of corium project
from the corium forming and surrounding the sack; but in the upper
part of the shell, above the opercular membrane, and therefore above
the sack, the corium is produced up each line of suture as a separate
ribbon. In proportion as these ribbons extend more or less near to the
summit of the shell, so do the edges of the radii continue to be added
to, to a greater or less height from the basis; and consequently their
summits become less or more oblique.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.
Edge of the radius of _Balanus tintinnabulum_. _a_, outer lamina; _b_,
inner lamina; _c_, denticulated septa, uniting the two laminæ.]
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