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
Although the cirri have not been described, it will be most convenient
here to treat shortly of their muscles. Each cirrus consists of a
pedicel, having a long basal and a short upper segment, supporting two
multiarticulate rami. The lower segment of the pedicel can be drawn
forward by an adductor muscle, attached low down within this segment,
and crossing at right angles (at least in the case of the anterior
cirri) the corresponding muscle of the opposed cirrus, on the central,
ventral surface of the thorax. This segment can also be drawn back
by a muscle springing from the dorso-lateral surface of the thorax,
and running only a little way within the segment: I am far from sure
that the lower segment does not possess other muscles. The short upper
segment of the pedicel can be moved backwards and forwards, as I saw
in living specimens, independently of the lower segment; this movement
being best seen in the anterior cirri, which are much more often moved
independently of each other than are the posterior cirri. The rami
are capable, I believe, of being moved backwards and forwards _as a
whole_, by the movement of the few lower segments, which are generally
more or less confluent. They can, also, be curled up and uncurled by
the combined movement of each separate segment. The uncurling seems
to separate the two rami a little laterally. Each ramus, at least in
the two or three anterior pairs, can be moved to a certain extent,
independently of the other ramus of the same cirrus; and the few
terminal segments, either of both rami or of one ramus, are often a
little moved and curled (and this is especially the case with the long
anterior ramus of the first pair), without the lower segments or the
pedicel being moved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account