Chapter XI: Introduction (7)

The central slip or rather disc of membrane, is 3/400ths of an inch in diameter; and this shows the basal diameter of the shell immediately after the metamorphosis. In the middle of this little disc I saw, in several specimens, the prehensile, pupal antennæ; I made out distinctly the ultimate segment with its bristles, and, as I believe, the disc-segment, which was 7/2000ths of an inch in diameter; but this portion was much obscured by the quantity of cement. When the corium is removed from the inner side of the basal membrane, the two chains of glands, extending from exactly over the antennæ in the centre about half way towards the circumference, are conspicuous. The cement-trunk, connecting the glands, is thin, and at the further end is always broken off, by the removal of the corium and overlying layer of ovarian cæca, into which the two cement-trunks enter; and without which removal, nothing could be seen. The two chains of glands form a very large angle, open towards the rostral end of the shell, as represented at fig. 1 _c_, much enlarged; by a mistake in fig. 1 _a_, the two have been drawn in a straight line. The cement-trunk increases in diameter in proceeding from the centre to the circumference, and the glands likewise increase in size, at the same time altering somewhat in shape. From near the lower side (the basal membrane being viewed from within) of each gland, two cement-ducts proceed, which pour out their contents beneath the basal membrane. The orifices of the ducts always exactly face the middle folds of the two lateral, and two carino-lateral compartments. In a full-sized specimen, there are from thirty-five to forty cement-glands on each side, always corresponding exactly with the number of slips of basal membrane, including the circumferential slip, to which the last-formed pair of glands and cement-ducts belong. In correspondence with the great number and narrowness of the central slips of membrane, so are the cement-glands towards the centre numerous and very small. All the glands, in the more central parts, consist of a mere transverse enlargement of the cement-trunk; but the exterior and larger glands, which are more closely packed together, are more globular or pear-shaped; and the two ducts (of which the one on the rostral side is considerably enlarged at its base) do not come out of the gland exactly at the same level. The trunk, connecting the glands, runs straight from one to the other. The ducts proceeding from the outer and older glands, on the carinal side, are much curved (Pl. 28, fig. 1 _c_). To give an idea of the dimensions of the several parts, I may state that the largest ducts were 3/1000ths of an inch in diameter, and the glands belonging to them nearly thrice as much, measured in the direction of the cement-trunk; on the other hand, some of the ducts from the small central glands had a diameter eighteen times less than that of the largest ducts. Towards the circumference, the ducts that proceed from the older and larger glands are piled one exactly over the other--the last formed being the topmost, and all are imbedded in the corium which overlies the basal membrane: this position of the ducts, one over the other (which could not be well represented in figs. 1 _a_ and 1 _c_), is owing to their all debouching at the same exact point. But the ducts form the smaller and younger glands, when the shell had a different shape, are spread out, and are all attached to the basal membrane. Altogether, the basal membrane of Coronula, when well cleaned, and examined under a moderately high power, presents the most singular and elegant appearance.

We now come to the cement-tissue: this lies on the under or outer side of the basal membrane; it is not represented in figs. 1 _a_ or 1 _c_, but only in the sectional diagram, 1 _b_, by the letters _z_, _z_: it presents its usual character and appearance, like solid glue or brown gum, but is obliquely laminated and sub-laminated: it forms a layer, much thicker than the basal membrane itself, being as much as .004 or .005 of an inch in thickness. It is, however, difficult to ascertain its thickness, from the singular manner in which it penetrates into and almost blends with the epidermis of the whale's skin; so much so, that for a considerable time I thought (not then knowing anything about the cement of Cirripedes) that this transparent horny substance probably answered to a corn on the human foot produced by pressure. But I soon observed that this horny substance certainly extended into and up the cement-ducts; and this fact first led me to the examination of the whole subject in the several genera of Lepadidæ and Balanidæ. It was not difficult to remove the cement-ducts, leaving small portions of the contained cement projecting freely up as points from the general surface of cement. The cement adheres slightly to the whole basal membrane, but chiefly to the yellowish rims or edges of the successive slips; and it is indeed this adhesion which, I believe, produces the rims; for the circumferential slip, when first split, had very thin ragged edges. The cement also extends under the spoke-like prolongations of the circumferential slip, and likewise some way up the sides of the walls.

The cement-glands, the trunk, and the ducts, except the two, three, or even four last-formed ones, are all filled with an apparently solid thread of transparent, brownish cement, differing in no respect from the cement under the central parts of the basal membrane. In one instance, in which the last-formed pair of glands and ducts had apparently been only just developed, they were so perfectly transparent that I could distinguish them only under certain lights, and I could not perceive any contents. The last-formed glands and ducts always appear very delicate, and include a tube of very delicate tissue, containing more or less of granular matter. The next succeeding pair of glands and ducts are always more opaque, and contain much more granular matter; which, in the next, or next but one, may be seen passing into the state of pale brown, transparent chitine. I have seen some most distinct instances, in which, in the same duct, the part towards the centre of the basis was filled with homogeneous cement, and the part towards the circumference with still plainly granular matter. In the successive circular slips of cement-tissue, lying attached under the circumferential slip and under the two or three succeeding slips of basal membrane, an exactly analogous series of changes is presented; as indeed might have been expected, as the slips of cement are absolutely continuous with the contents of the ducts. Moreover, if a vertical section be made across one of the last-formed slips of cement, it may sometimes be seen to be apparently in the act of separating into layers, with the lower layers more pulpy, elastic, and white than the upper layers, which are less coherent, and show as yet even still less the character of cement. The cement under the circumferential and adjoining slips, often presents a peculiar wrinkled appearance, in lines conformable with the outline of the basal membrane; but I do not believe that these are real wrinkles, though so like them; they seem to consist of sinuous threads, longer or shorter, sometimes slightly branched, crossing and inter-joined, and composed apparently of faintly coloured cement. I suspect that these threads are formed by the union and subsequent drawing out of aggregations of that matter, which within the ducts is first granular, and then changes into cement; for at the orifices of the ducts these wrinkled threads sweep outwards in curved lines on both sides. The cement in these early stages adheres, with very little force, to the basal membrane; and with only a little more force to the underlying layers of cement; in fact, till it assumes the brown translucent appearance, like solid glue, it hardly seems to act as cement.

How the cement reaches the skin of the whale, will be best understood by referring to the sectional diagram (Pl. 28, fig. 1 _b_). When the circumferential slip of membrane (_b_) splits, a new circumferential slip will be formed over it, together with new cement-glands and ducts, and cement (_z_, _z_) will issue from four new orifices, and will extend on both sides of these orifices, till the ends meet and become united, thus forming a narrow, 18-sided, continuous, new slip of cement, with 18 spokes proceeding from it. I have not noticed lines of union in the cement of any one slip; but the matter forming each slip, certainly has proceeded from four distinct orifices. Seeing how perfectly successive layers of cement often become blended together, lines of union or junction, could hardly be expected to be preserved in the same individual layer. When the circumferential slip of basal membrane splits, the underlying slip of cement, which we will call A, does not split, but becomes stretched, so that the newly formed slip of cement, which we will call B, does not reach the skin of the whale. As the new circumferential slip of basal membranes goes on increasing in width, A continues to be stretched, but does not split, till at least another circumferential slip of basal membrane has been formed and has been split, and till B has been also stretched. By this time, the cement-tissue A has assumed its normal structure, and has the power of adhering to the whale's skin, which it has now reached, owing to the splitting of the under and older slips of cement. At the next period of growth, A itself will split, and B will touch the whale's skin and adhere to it; and this, also, will ultimately split. It results from this action, that the cement has a stretched, and sometimes even a fibrous appearance, with the lower edges of the layers, of which each slip of cement is formed, thinning out. I have before stated, that the two or three last-formed slips of basal membrane are formed at first too narrow, and apparently have to be dragged outwards, over each other; and it is perhaps owing to this circumstance, and to globules of cement having first adhered to the under surface of the slips of basal membrane, that these slips are studded beneath with parallel little vermiform bodies, sometimes of considerable length, and furnished with heads, all directed outwards. These tapering, vermiform bodies have a considerable resemblance to the threads before mentioned, which give the wrinkled, concentric appearance to the newly-formed layers of cement, and have probably a closely analogous origin: in one case, indeed, it appeared as if some of these concentric threads were in process of being drawn out at right angles to their original course. Lastly, it should be observed, that as the exterior half of the membrane of the circumferential slip, after each splitting, is dragged down, and thus comes to invest the outer surface of the wall of the shell (the wall not being represented in the diagram, but standing where the letter (_p_) stands), so it must be with the cement, which thus likewise comes, in an unusual manner, to invest the outer surface of the folded walls of the shell, and attaches them to the skin of the whale,--which latter is always growing upwards, and tending to bury the shell.

_Platylepas decorata._--This genus is closely allied to Coronula, and the cementing apparatus is essentially similar. In one specimen, I counted no less than forty-nine slips of basal membrane, each of which, of course, had its pair of cement-glands, and each of the latter its two ducts. The glands consists of a transverse enlargement of the trunk, as in the early stages of Coronula. Neither the glands nor the duct, when old, become filled up with cement, but only the main-trunk. The ducts are very delicate and thin; the larger ones being only 3/10,000 of an inch in diameter. The glands stand some way apart on the two cement trunks; and the latter, instead of being straight as in Coronula, are deeply serpentine; the glands are formed on each bend, so that, though all on one side are connected on the same trunk, they form a double row on each side of the basal membrane. The basal membrane (in the centre of which I distinctly saw the antennæ of the pupa) has six deep bays or excisions, corresponding with the midribs (see Pl. 17, 1 _a_, 1 _d_) of the six compartments; and the two ducts from each gland, on the right and left sides, debouch at the heads of the four lateral excisions, exactly opposite the midribs of the lateral and carino-lateral compartments. The later-formed glands, owing to all of them being situated some way apart from each other on the two cement-trunks, lie further from the centre of the basis than do the orifices of their ducts; hence the later-formed ducts are directed a little backwards, or from near the circumference towards the heads of the deep excisions.

_Tubicinella._--The cementing apparatus is here less symmetrical; but this, I believe, is chiefly owing to the basal membrane being formed of successively larger discs (not slips) of membrane, thrown down not quite concentrically one over the other; each new disc of membrane seems to cover the last-formed cement-glands and ducts; and there are as many ducts and glands as there are discs of membrane, all adhering together. In one specimen, it appeared that normally there were four sets of cement-ducts, as in the allied genera of Coronula and Platylepas; but in other specimens, the ducts were distributed very irregularly. In one case the two cement-trunks extended parallel and close together, one of them terminating long before the other. I have given a figure (Pl. 28, fig. 3) of three of the cement-glands, removed from the basal membrane, together with their ducts. The cement-trunk (_f f_) seemed to be a little enlarged, and to be crossed by septa, as it entered the glands (_h_), but I could not make out this structure clearly enough to be represented. Whilst young, the cement-glands stand some little way apart from each other; and in the figure given of some of the last-formed glands, they are hardly separate enough. Each gland gives out obliquely, on one side, a cement-duct (_c_) which I traced in several cases to the margin of one of the discs of basal membrane, where cement issued from it; and on the opposite side, a tapering spur (_b_), varying in length, which may be called, and I believe really is, a rudimentary duct. Of these spurs we shall meet many instances in other genera. The duct (_c_) and the spur (_b_), close to where they entered the gland, in some specimens gave off, at about right angles, short blunt points, or rudimentary branches. This duct and spur correspond, I believe, with the two ducts in Coronula; but besides these, a duct (_a_) is given off from one end of the gland, from the surface opposite to that at which the cement-trunk enters. This duct (_a_) is very singular, from always forming a loop (_a′_), with two spurs projecting from it: these two spurs occasionally spring from a common point: I have seen nothing like this structure in any other Cirripede. This duct (_a_) runs, like the duct (_c_), to the margin of its own disc of basal membrane, where it debouches. Besides these ducts, in the best specimen which I examined, there were two other sets of ducts, which were slightly zig-zag, and at each angular bend, a mere knob or point, or at most a short branch, was given off; but this branch seemed never to run to the margin of the basal membrane or to give out cement; whereas the main branch did give out cement. I was not able to trace these ducts to their glands. In these zig-zag ducts, and in the rudimentary points sometimes observed at the base of the duct (_c_), and likewise at the base of the spur (_b_), we see the first indication of that tendency to bifurcation, so strongly characteristic of the cement-ducts in all the genera, excepting those already described, which are allied to Coronula.

_Chelonobia patula._--The cementing apparatus is here chiefly remarkable for the thinness and straightness of the main trunk, (_f f_, Pl. 28, fig. 2), and from the great distance at which the glands stand apart; had another gland been drawn, it would, on the scale here used, have stood exactly under the two upper, (_c′ c′_) in fig. 1 _c_. We here see that the trunk (_f_), before entering the gland (_h_), has an enlarged portion (_g_); this, I suspect, is a very general structure. Each gland gives out, on opposite sides, two ducts (_a a_, _b b_), larger even than the main trunk; and these ducts bifurcate repeatedly, and inosculate. By this inosculation it is not improbable that all four ducts, proceeding from the two glands of the same age, may be connected together; certainly the bifurcating branches from the same duct thus become repeatedly connected. For the first two or three bifurcations the ducts decrease very little or not at all in diameter; but nearer the circumference they become smaller. The ducts, also, proceeding from the younger and smaller glands, are, of course, proportionably smaller. In one case I was able to count four bifurcations in the duct between the gland and the edge of the basal membrane. It follows from this structure, that the basal membrane, at each period of growth, is cemented down by cement issuing from several orifices; but we shall presently find that in other genera the cement proceeds from many more orifices. In fig. 2 there is represented, by the aid of the camera, a small portion (from the outer (_a_) to the outer (_b_) being 12/100ths of an inch in length) of the basal membrane, with all the several cement-ducts adhering to it, which I could distinguish, and drawn of their proper relative sizes; this figure also shows some of the bifurcations, but no inosculation happened to be included in the space here given; the basal membrane itself has not been represented. In taking a view of a considerable portion of the basal membrane, especially towards the circumference, some parallelism in the branches could be perceived; one set of branches tending to run in the direction of the ray of the circle, and the other set in the line of the circumference.

_Elminius Kingii._--The cement-glands here resemble those of Chelonobia, but the trunk does not seem to be enlarged before entering the gland. The glands are situated rather far apart; and the chief peculiarity is, that the trunk connecting the glands is as tortuous as the track of a worm. Each gland gives out two ducts, which bifurcate repeatedly, and often inosculate, making, in parts, an hexagonal mesh-work: some of the branches do not debouch on the basal membrane, but terminate in blunt points. So numerous are the ducts, that the basal membrane may be compared to pieces of paper with the fine fibrous branching roots of some plant dried and heaped on it. Some of these ducts are very regularly jointed, and resemble a conferva,--an appearance which I believe is owing to divisions in the contained cement; other ducts are partially marked by little wrinkles, as presently to be described under Balanus. The cement, instead of, as heretofore, invariably forming a slip round and beneath the circumference of the basal membrane, here often forms little, independent, circular, and irregularly-shaped discs, each of which has issued from a single orifice. I may here add that in two species of _Tetraclita_ I saw the cement-ducts repeatedly bifurcating, with some of the branches inosculating, as in Elminius and Chelonobia.

In _Balanus balanoides_, which, like all the Cirripedes hitherto mentioned, has a membranous basis, I could only make out an amazing number of bifurcating and inosculating cement-ducts, of very various diameters. The cement-tissue, on the under side of the basal membrane, generally consisted of little circular discs, on an average from 2 to 5/1000ths of an inch in diameter; but there were also globules and short tortuous threads of cement. In some very much elongated and crowded specimens--in which, during the downward growth of the walls, the basal membrane had ceased to reach the surface of attachment, and being thus suspended had become, as viewed from the outside, deeply concave--the cement had apparently continued to try to reach the rock, and now hung down in the form of two thickish roots, some tenths of an inch in length. These roots were round, and tapered either to a fine or blunt point; one was doubled on itself, and so had become united; in the other, I could perceive five layers or sheaths of the cement-tissue, one within the other; the innermost of these layers, which once, no doubt, formed the outside surface of the root, was only a quarter of its present length.

In _Balanus tintinnabulum_, the basis is calcareous: when its upper surface is cleaned, dried, and examined under a good light, the numerous larger cement-ducts can be seen, even by the naked eye, or under a weak lens, and present an elegant appearance. These larger ducts run in parallel lines from the two chains of glands towards the circumference. They are all encrusted with calcareous matter, and in the more central parts are hidden under it; at each period of growth, when the basis is added to round the circumference, it would appear that a layer of excessive tenuity of shell is thrown down over the whole surface, just in the same way as in Tubicinella, at each period, a new and larger disc of membrane was thrown down over the pre-existing membranes with their cementing apparatus. The cement-glands, in the middle of the basal plate, seem often to give rise to small abnormal depositions of calcareous matter. When the basis (it is best to take a young specimen) is slowly dissolved in acid, all the cementing apparatus is left uninjured, adhering to the delicate tissue which before existed in a calcified condition. Near the middle I saw the two antennæ of the pupa; and from them the two cement-trunks extended about half-way towards the circumference. These two chains of glands are often placed very irregularly, but they tend to form, as in Coronula, a large angle, open towards the rostral end of the shell. The glands, close to the old antennæ, commence abruptly, of rather large size: the later-formed glands, with their ducts, are in regular order larger than the younger ones, and stand much closer together. After immersion in acid all the glands and ducts appeared empty, instead of the older ones being, as in Coronula, filled with cement. In one case I counted on each trunk twenty-five glands, besides some smaller obscure ones close to the centre.

In Pl. 28, fig. 4 _b_, I have given a drawing of two of the cement glands: the cement-trunk (_f f_) is smooth and apparently cylindrical: it becomes enlarged (at _g_) before entering the gland: it seems even to be prolonged across the gland under the form of a narrow bar (not represented), which apparently serves to keep the two ends of the trunk, on the two sides of the gland, in their proper relative places and distances. The gland itself is an elongated bag (_h_), which properly lies exactly over the enlarged portion (_g_) of the trunk, but in the drawing has been purposely displaced: it gives rise, in the later-formed glands, to a sort of neck (see the upper gland), which is either so long as to deserve rather to be called a duct and which soon bifurcates, or is quite short (see the lower gland) and gives rise to two separate ducts. On the opposite side of these glands, there is a spur (_m_), of greater or shorter length, which is evidently a rudimentary duct, for in the younger glands it existed as a perfect duct. Moreover, the first-mentioned duct often gives off branches (_t′_), having an exactly similar appearance with the spur (_m_). The membrane of which the cement-trunk (_f_), with the enlargements (_g_), is composed, is smooth, but that of the glands and of all the ducts, presents a very peculiar appearance, which at first would be called scaled, but more properly perhaps notched,--each notch being apparently formed by a line of thickened membrane, extending obliquely round only a short portion of the tube, and indenting it. The ducts, which I measured, were between 1/3000th and 4/3000ths of an inch in diameter.

In fig. 4 _a_, I have given a drawing of the two chains of glands, but with only those ducts figured which proceeded from the last-formed pair of glands. The specimen here drawn was old; and it is rare to find the structure of the ducts so simple. From both glands[72] a neck or thick duct arises, which soon bifurcates; one branch runs direct into the circumferential duct, and the other (_t_) bifurcates again; of the latter, one branch unites with its fellow from the opposite gland, and then forming a single duct (_t′_) enters, as do the two other branches, the circumferential duct. Thus, into the latter, five main ducts enter: the position of their points of entrance, with respect to the shell, varies considerably; but I think the five points tend to face the middle of the rostrum, and middle of the two lateral compartments on each side. In some other specimens, in which the ducts were nearly as simple, I observed that the neck or main duct at once divided into three branches, instead of into two, with one soon bifurcating; and on one side a rudimentary branch or spur was given off (above _t_), indicating a tendency to an additional bifurcation. In the later-formed glands, the ducts proceed only from the outer sides and form the ends of the glands furthest from the centre; but in the earlier-formed and smaller glands of the same individual, other ducts proceed from the inner sides, where in the older glands the spurs (_m_) are situated: moreover, in the younger glands, all the ducts bifurcate much oftener (how often I was not able to ascertain), before entering the circumferential duct; many of the branches, however, terminating in spur-like points. Now if we imagine twenty or thirty repetitions of the ducts given in fig. 4 _a_, (independently of the greater complication of the ducts of the younger glands), each a very little smaller than the other, and placed, with the main branches parallel, one over and within the other, we shall gain some insight into the wonderfully complicated structure of the cementing apparatus in this and many other species of Balanus.

[72] It should be observed that fig. 4 _b_ ought to have been drawn
with its present upper end downwards, to make it correspond in
position with fig. 4 _a_.

I have as yet only alluded to the _circumferential duct_ (_i_, _i_, Pl. 28, fig. 4 _a_): we have not hitherto met with this duct, but I suspect that the branches which in Chelonobia inosculate, and which seem to run nearly parallel to the circumference of the basal membrane, answer the same purpose of connecting the ducts together, and are, perhaps, strictly homologous. In this, and some other species of Balanus, the last-formed circumferential duct runs round the margin of the upper lamina of the basal plate, close to the basal edges of the walls; and as these latter have projecting longitudinal ribs, the duct curves a little round each rib; so that the whole duct is formed by as many short inwardly curved portions as the walls have ribs, or longitudinal septa. Between the basal extremities of these parietal, longitudinal septa, the extremities of the radiating septa of the basis project and enter; and along the crests of the latter, little branch-ducts (_i′_), proceeding from the circumferential duct, extend. In the basis, beneath the tubes formed by the just-mentioned radiating septa, there is a cancellated shelly mass (which, in fig. 4 _a_, was of unusual thickness), and along the crests of the branching ridges forming this cancellated mass, the sub-branches of the above branch-ducts (_i′_) run; these soon become so minute as not to be distinguished by the highest powers, and thus form a sheet of cement, which attaches the last-formed zone of the shelly basis to the supporting surface. At what point the membrane forming any one duct ceases, the cement-tissue being alone left, I was not able to ascertain; but the lower parts of the reticulated slip (_z_, _z_, fig. 4 _a_) closely resembled the cement-tissue which surrounds the disc-segment of the pupal antennæ in _Lepas australis_. The circumferential duct, here and there, forms little loops, as may be seen in fig. 4 _a_: and often two branches, running along the crests of two adjoining basal septa, proceed from a common point of the circumferential duct. The cement itself, under different parts of the basis, appears as little separate discs, as threads, globules, and as a fine network, but most commonly as simple layers. As each thick zone of shelly matter is added round the basis, the exterior branches of the ducts, between the circumferential duct and the new layer of cement beneath, are fairly imbedded in shell, and are for ever hidden, without, indeed, acid be used for the dissolution of the calcareous matter: so, also, the pre-existing ducts and glands, and the main trunk, would all have been hidden, if the layer of calcareous matter, which, I believe, is thrown down at each period of growth over the entire surface, had not been of excessive tenuity.

I cursorily examined the cementing apparatus in _Balanus galeatus_, _improvisus_ and _crenatus_, which have all calcareous bases, and belong to different sections of the genus; and the structure seemed to be essentially the same. In _Bal. galeatus_, I found the cement-ducts varying in diameter from 1/4000th to 1/10,000th of an inch in diameter. In _B. improvisus_, the cement-glands do not differ much from those of _B. tintinnabulum_; but the cement-ducts bifurcate often before entering the circumferential duct; and the little branches, which proceed from the latter, are very short, and almost immediately, owing to the thinness of the basis, blend into a slip of cement.

* * * * *

I hope to be excused for describing at such length, the apparatus by which sessile cirripedes are permanently attached to a supporting surface; for this is the great leading character of the sub-class, not hitherto observed in any other Crustacean.[73] It is not easy to overstate the singularity and complexity of the appearance of the basal membrane of a Balanus or Coronula: and when we consider the homological nature of the apparatus, the subject becomes still more curious: I feel an entire conviction, from what I have repeatedly seen in several genera of the Lepadidæ, both in their mature and pupal condition, and from what I have seen in Proteolepas, that the cement-glands and ducts are continuous with and actually a part of an ovarian tube, in a modified condition; and that the cellular matter which, in one part, goes to the formation of ova or new beings, in the other and modified part, goes to the formation of the cementing tissue. To conclude with an hypothesis,--those naturalists who believe that all gaps in the chain of nature would be filled up, if the structure of every extinct and existing creature were known, will readily admit, that Cirripedes were once separated by scarcely sensible intervals from some other, now unknown, Crustaceans. Should these intervening forms ever be discovered, I imagine they would prove to be Crustaceans, of not very low rank, with their oviducts opening at or near their second pair of antennæ, and that their ova escaped, at a period of exuviation, invested with an adhesive substance or tissue, which served to cement them, together, probably, with the exuviæ of the parent, to a supporting surface. In Cirripedes, we may suppose the cementing apparatus to have been retained; the parent herself, instead of the exuviæ, being cemented down, whereas the ova have come to escape by a new and anomalous course.

[73] Rathke has described ('Acta Nova,' 1839, p. 147), in some
siphonostomatous crustaceans, a pair of curious organs, which serve
to secrete a substance that holds the eggs attached together in a
mass to the parent's body: these organs Rathke has designated by
a similar name to that which I have used, namely, the cementing
organs or receptacles; they are distinct from the oviducts, but
enter them near their external orifices. As in Cirripedes, the
cement-glands and ducts are certainly continuous with an ovarian
tube; and as they occupy a quite different position in the animal's
body, these organs of Rathke, though in some degree analogous in
function, must be homologically distinct.

_Affinities, Classification, Variation._

Under the Order it has been stated that the Balanidæ, are, on the cirripedial type, the highest in the class; that is, they are the most complicated, but not (to use Professor Owen's term) by mere vegetative repetition. Amongst the Balanidæ, the first section of the genus Balanus may be taken as typical; here we have the structure of the shell extremely complicated, yet beautifully adapted for strength, and for the protection of the included body. The cementing apparatus is here, also, most complicated. I have divided the Balanidæ into two natural sub-families, the Balaninæ and Chthamalinæ, in accordance with certain differences in the structure of the shell and of the animal's body: that this division is natural, might almost be inferred from the one fact, that all the characters by which the Chthamalinæ differ from the Balaninæ, are those by which the former approaches the family of the Lepadidæ; moreover, certain anomalous characters in the Chthamalinæ, as the supplemental whorls of compartments in Catophragmus, and the presence of caudal appendages in this same genus and in Pachylasma, reveal this same affinity. The only objection which I can see to the separation of the sixteen genera into the above two sub-families, may be drawn from the degree to which they blend together; thus, as far as the shell is concerned, Chelonobia, in one important internal point of structure, tends to assume the character of the Chthamalinæ; and on the other hand, Pachylasma, a member of the Chthamalinæ, has a shell, which if not examined during its earliest growth, would be placed without doubt amongst the Balaninæ. But it fortunately so happens, that in no one character of the body does Pachylasma approach the Balaninæ more nearly, than do the other members of its sub-family; or Chelonobia approach, in the same respects, the Chthamalinæ. It is only in Chthamalus, of which the shell clearly places it in the sub-family bearing its name, that in some of the species, the less bullate labrum,--the larger palpi,--the lower teeth of the mandibles being laterally double,--and the lower segments of the third pair of cirri being thickly clothed, like the lower segments of the second pair, with bristles--all show that these species make an approach in structure to the Balaninæ.

It will be seen that I have divided the Balaninæ into two little groups, according as whether the branchiæ consist of one or of two plicated folds of membrane, and as whether or not the scutum and tergum are articulated together. I have been greatly tempted to follow Drs. Leach and Gray, who have separated the second of these groups, containing the genera Coronula, Tubicinella, Xenobalanus, and Platylepas, into the sub-family of the Coronulinæ. Certainly these genera have a peculiar aspect in common, and agree in being parasitic and imbedded in the skin of Cetaceans, as is the case with the first three genera, or in that of turtles, manatee, and sea-snakes, as in Platylepas. Though these genera possess several peculiar characters, yet I can find none common to all four, excepting their imbedment in the skin of Vertebrata, their double branchiæ, and their non-articulated opercular valves; and these I do not think of sufficient importance to serve for the separation of a sub-family; for in Chthamalus, one species has double branchiæ, one species has no branchiæ at all, and the other species have single branchiæ; so again in Chelonobia, the scutum having only a horny articular ridge, makes an approach to Coronula and its allies. I may further specify that the folded walls, a singular character common to Coronula, Platylepas and Xenobalanus, fails in Tubicinella; the open tubes and the imperfect outer lamina of the parietes towards their bases, are characters which fail in one species of Platylepas; the muscles running to the opercular valves being thinly spread out, and partially without transverse striæ, is also a character which fails in Platylepas; the simplicity of the cement-ducts partially fails in Tubicinella; and lastly, the existence of small intermediate teeth on the mandibles, fails in Xenobalanus: hence, I repeat, I have not thought it prudent to admit the sub-family of the Coronulinæ though in many respects a very natural group.

The genera in the Balaninæ and Chthamalinæ are founded chiefly on the number of the compartments (the number being apparently due, as previously explained, to the fusion or abortion of certain of the eight typical compartments); and secondarily, on the nature and even form of the basis, and on the porosity of the walls. In Coronula and its allies, the non-articulated opercular valves and deeply folded walls come into play. As a justification for using these characters in distinguishing the genera, and even to a certain extent in separating the two sub-families, I must call to mind that the shell, with the basis, is not merely a dermal envelope, as amongst Molluscs, but actually consists of the first three segments of the head. The parts of the mouth and the cirri are of very little service in distinguishing the genera,--a singular fact, considering that most of the genera amongst the Lepadidæ could be distinguished by these organs,--though trifling details in their structure sometimes come in useful as specific characters. Balanus, with the sub-genus Acasta; Pyrgoma, with the sub-genus Creusia; Tetraclita, and Elminius, are genera of about equal value; though perhaps the two latter are rather more nearly related together than to the others. Chelonobia is more distinct; it shows some little affinity to the Chthamalinæ, and likewise to the four following genera. Coronula, Platylepas, Tubicinella, and Xenobalanus, are genera quite distinct from the foregoing, and from each other; yet, as we have just seen, palpably allied together. Amongst the Chthamalinæ, Pachylasma, Octomeris, and Catophragmus, are more closely related to each other than to the other two genera of the sub-family; yet Pachylasma, as far as the shell is concerned, leads into the Balaninæ, and Catophragmus into the Lepadidæ; Octomeris leads towards Chthamalus, and Chthamalus towards Chamæsipho.

_Variation._--The discrimination of the species in most of the genera, offers very great difficulties. I cannot too strongly impress on any one intending to study this class, not to trust to external characters: he must separate and clean, and carefully examine the internal structure and form of the compartments, and more especially of the opercular valves. After considerable experience, when numerous varieties of a species have been carefully examined, the eye acquires a sort of instinctive knowledge, by which it can recognise the species, though the character cannot be defined by language; but I have found that no amount of experience with some of the commonest species, will save frequent and grave errors, as long as external characters alone are trusted to. Not only does every external character vary greatly in most of the species, but the internal parts very often vary to a surprising degree; and to add to the difficulty, groups of specimens not rarely vary in the same manner. After having given up several years to the study of this class, I must express my deliberate conviction that it is hopeless to find in any species, _which has a wide range, and of which numerous specimens from different districts_ are presented for examination, any one part or organ,--which from differing in the different species is fitted for offering specific characters,--absolutely invariable in form or structure. I may in one respect even go further, and affirm, that, if in a species, any part or organ differs remarkably from the same part in its congeners, then if many specimens are examined, especially when collected from different districts, such part or organ will be found _eminently_ variable. I may instance the antenniformed third pair of cirri in _Chthamalus antennatus_, the teeth on the posterior cirri in _Acasta sulcata_, the terga in _Pyrgoma dentatum_, the adductor ridge of the scuta in _Pyrgoma cancellatum_ and in Creusia, and other such cases: hence it will not do to found a species on a slight, or sometimes even on a considerable difference, in _any single point or organ_. On the other hand, I am far from asserting, that if only half-a-dozen specimens of some rare species of Cirripede be brought from some one quarter of the world, characters beautifully defined may not be readily discovered. In determining what forms to call varieties, I have followed one common rule; namely, the discovery of such closely-allied, intermediate forms, that the application of a specific name to any one step in the series, was obviously impossible; or, when such intermediate forms have not actually been found, the knowledge that the differences of structure in question were such as, in _several allied forms_, certainly arose from variation,--for instance, in the case of two shells otherwise identical, one being longitudinally ribbed and the other smooth, a character which we know to vary,--but I have always used this argument from analogy with great caution. Finally, as in the large genus Balanus, there is an especial amount of variation, I have there entered in detail on this subject; and I hope that those interested in it, will refer to that discussion, which is almost verbally applicable to some other genera of the family, as Tetraclita and Chthamalus.

_Rate of Growth, Exuviation, Powers of Repairing Injuries._

In my former volume I have shown that the pedunculated cirripedes grow rapidly; this is likewise the case with the Balanidæ. Mr. Stutchbury informs me that he has seen numerous specimens of _Balanus tintinnabulum_ from 2 to 3 inches in height and from 5 to 6 inches in circumference (and this is nearly the full size which the species attains), on a vessel which had been to sea only during one year. At Coquimbo, in Chile, I have seen a specimen of _B. psittacus_ 1.3 of an inch in basal diameter, and .8 in height, adhering to a chain that had been only six months under water. Poli, also, gives the case of some Balani (probably _B. perforatus_), which, in about four months, had attained a basal diameter of 1 inch, and a height of 1-1/6th of an inch. _Balanus balanoides_ is a smaller species, and of slower growth; for the late Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast, found that in three months from July 3d, certain marked specimens had increased from 2-1/2-3 lines to 4-1/2 lines, which is the usual maximum size attained in that locality. From other observations, Mr. Thompson believes that the extreme duration of life of this species is about two years: whether the other and apparently quicker-growing species, are shorter-lived, I have no means of judging.

In accordance with this rapid growth is the frequency of the periods of exuviation. Mr. Thompson kept twenty specimens of _B. balanoides_ alive, and on the twelfth day he found the twenty-first cast-off integument, showing that all had moulted once, and one individual twice, within this period.[74] This frequency of exuviation, together with the durability of the cast-off integuments, explains the astonishing masses of exuviæ, which Mr. Peach assures me he annually has observed off the coast of Cornwall; they are most abundant in April and May, but he has seen quantities also in September; he could easily, as he tells me, have filled several quart-measures with them. The specimens sent to me consisted chiefly of _Balanus balanoides_, _perforatus_, and _Chthamalus stellatus_. The opercular membrane, with a narrow strip from between the two scuta, and another narrow strip from between the two terga, are moulted together, in connection with the more delicate membrane lining the sack, and investing the plicated branchiæ. This membrane, likewise, is continuously connected with that covering the whole body and its appendages. As I have stated under the Lepadidæ, the inner tunic of the œsophagus, of the rectum, of the olfactory pouches, and that which enters a little way into the acoustic meatus, and the apodemes of the maxillæ, are all moulted. On the cirri and jaws, new spines are formed with their upper ends enclosed within the old spines, but with their lower ends projecting inwards, beyond the bases of the old spines, and inverted like the fingers of a glove hastily pulled off. The membranes of the body, in the act of exuviation, split, I believe, only over the prosoma. How the neat separation of the opercular membrane, from all round the sheath and opercular valves, is effected, I do not fully understand; but it is, probably, analogous to the splitting of the thick carapace of the common crab. I suspect in Coronula, in which genus and its allies the opercular membrane is not periodically moulted, that the membrane lining the sack is not always thrown off at the same exact time with that of the body. In _Chthamalus stellatus_, in the act of moulting, the opercular membrane is the last part that separates from the new underlying membranes: I find that this species can moult when kept in a damp box out of water. The new membranes of the body, immediately after the exuviation, are not lax in any extreme degree. The exuviæ of the genus Chthamalus, and of some other genera amongst the Chthamalinæ, can at once be recognised by the divergence of the posterior _four_ pairs of cirri: in the case of _Chthamalus stellatus_ I have also noticed that the animal generally dies with these cirri in the same divergent position. Finally, I cannot doubt[75] that the Triton described by Linnæus was only the exuviæ of some Balanus (probably _B. porcatus_); Linnæus mistaking the probosciformed penis for the mouth of his imagined distinct animal.

[74] In Daphnia, Straus ('Mém. du Museum,' tom. vi, p. 151) found
that the individuals moulted every five or six days.

[75] Linnæus speaks of the included body (inhabitant as he calls
it) of other Cirripedes, as a Triton; and this, I think, shows
that Lesson's conjecture that the Triton was an Alepas cannot be
correct; for Linnæus could hardly have supposed that a pedunculated
cirripede inhabited another pedunculated or sessile cirripede.

I have seen a few specimens showing that when the shell has been broken it can be repaired; and this I believe is effected by the growth of a crest of corium between the broken edges, and the subsequent calcification of this crest. Mr. Stutchbury possesses a monstrous specimen of _Chelonobia testudinaria_, in which one of the lateral compartments on one side has not been developed. The cirri not rarely get cut off, but are, as it appears, soon repaired. I have observed a singular number of examples of the act of reparation in a group of the Australian _Balanus vestitus_. The manner in which the cirri are repaired seems to me curious: the cut-off end is closed by a rounded scale of yellowish chitine, and then the corium, in the four or five subjacent segments, separates from the external articulated membrane, which now serves only as a case or capsule. The tube of corium thus enclosed, with its contained muscles, shrinks a little, and soon can be perceived to be in process of dividing into new and smaller segments, in one instance ten in number,--which at the next exuviation would, no doubt, be invested with an external membrane, and be freely exposed. In another instance, the pedicel of a posterior cirrus had been cut off and subsequently closed; in this instance, a whole, immature, miniature cirrus, with the two rami, each having fifteen minute segments, was thus enclosed in what had been the single lower segment of the pedicel. I have seen several specimens of _Balanus balanoides_, as described under that species, with several of the cirri and the penis truncated; but I believe this was owing to monstrosity, which seemed particularly to affect the male organs of generation; for no reparation seemed to be in progress. In a specimen of Coronula, however, the penis appeared to have been really cut off by accident; it had been closed, by a scab, with concentric lines, like the articular rings on the penis itself; and within the case thus formed, the corium had healed, and had become pointed, but _inverted_; I presume that the point would, after another exuviation, have been everted, and its length thus increased.

_Geographical Range and Habits._

With respect to range, the results arrived at have no particular interest, for the species are not sufficiently numerous; and, what is still more adverse, the genera, with unimportant exceptions, range over the world; so that there is no scale of differences, and it cannot be said that these two regions differ in their genera, and these two only in their species. In all the following remarks, I have trusted exclusively to my own specific identification; and have rejected all assigned localities which appeared from any cause to be doubtful. Sessile cirripedes are found in every sea, from lat. 74° 18′ north to Cape Horn. The area included between the north point of the Philippine Archipelago and the south point of Australia, extending on the right hand to New Zealand, and on the left to Sumatra,--an area, which, though including two distinct Cirripedial regions, is small compared with the surface of the globe, yet includes a greater number of species, especially of peculiar species, than the whole rest of the known world. This is, probably, in chief part due to the broken nature of the land, affording diversified habitats, and to much of the coast being rocky. Cirripedes, from requiring to be attached, cannot live where the shores and adjoining bottom are sandy or muddy or formed of moving shingle; hence, no doubt, it arises, that there is such a remarkable contrast in the great number of the species inhabiting the bold rocky western coast of South America, and the few species living on the sloping, and often sandy or muddy or shingly, eastern shores of this continent. Hence, also, I believe, it is that not many species have been brought from India. Coral-reefs are not favorable to Cirripedes, consequently but few are known to inhabit the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Where Cirripedes can live, though the species in no district are numerous, the individuals abound in infinite numbers: I have walked over the coast-rocks of the Falkland and Chonos Islands, of Chile and Van Diemen's Land, fairly encrusted over wide spaces with a continuous layer of Cirripedes, consisting of only two or three species; in the same manner as may be observed on many parts of the shores of Great Britain, and, I believe, of North America.