from cirrus and pes, signifying Derivation curled legs, a class of animals comprehending the barnacles and acorn-shells of English naturalists.
Their nervous system consists of a series of ganglia, connected longitudinally by a double nervous cord.
They have a heart and circulating vessels.
The organs of respiration are a sort of branchiae attached to the base of the legs.
The legs are twelve in number, and are terminated by many-jointed compressed appendices, which in the five anterior pairs are much elongated and ciliated beneath.
Their head is not distinct from the body, and there are no distinct organs of vision; the mouth consists of an upper lip; a pair of mandibles; a pair of maxillae, each of which is furnished with a fleshy kind of palpus; and a lower lip, evidently formed by the union of the exterior maxillae.
The intestinal canal is simple, and not contorted or furnished with coeca; it terminates at the base of a long proboscis-like tube. The stomach is often enlarged, and furnished with appendices.
Their organs of generation terminate at the extremity of the proboscis-like tube mentioned above.
They are hermaphrodite and oviparous.
Their food is unknown.
Many of the genera are well defined in the works of History, the older naturalists; but they have not been adopted by the moderns.
Linnaeus arranged all the CIRRIPEDES under the generic name Lepas (a term applied to the limpet by the ancients), and named the animal Triton.
The great divisions of these animals are very obvious, and have been distinguished in common language, as well as by several authors, who named them Lepas and Balanus.
Lamarck, in 1812, first established the CIRRIPEDES as a distinct class, which has been adopted by Cuvier and Blainville, who consider it to constitute a distinct subtype of molluscous animals.
We regard them as belonging to the type annulosa, since they agree with those animals in every point of essential structure.
John Hunter was well acquainted with their organs of respiration, digestion, and generation, as may be learnt from an inspection of the preparations of those parts, preserved in his superb collection of comparative anatomy.
Poli, Cuvier, and Home, have likewise treated on the structure of the CIRRIPEDES. ### CLASSIFICATION
#### Order I. Campylosomata.
Base of the body tendinous and flexible; upper part with shelly plates; the legs passing through a slit in the anterior part.
| Fam. I. Clytidii. | Summit of the body with two cylindric hollow processes. | |------------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | Upper part of the body not much compressed, membranaceous, with very small shelly or corneous plates. | 1. Otion. | | Summit of the body simple. | 2. Cineras. |
| Fam. II. Policupidii. | Five in number: base naked. | |----------------------|----------------------------| | Upper part of the body very much compressed, and covered with shelly plates. | 3. Pentalasmis. | | Thirteen in number: base with hairy wrinkles, the interstices hairy. | 4. Scalpellum. | | Five large and many small: base with shelly scales. | 5. Pollicipes. |
| Fam. I. Coronulidii. | Shell subcylindric, narrower at its base: operculum protected by four large equal-sized shelly valves. | |---------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Operculum fleshy and protuberant: shell sex-partite, with its base open. | 6. Tubicinella. | | Shell with its base much wider than its apex. | 7. Coronula. |
#### Order II. Acamtsomata.
Whole body surrounded by a shell of one or more parts. Legs passing out through the operculum which closes the upper part of the shell.
| Fam. II. Balanidii. | Base cup-shaped or infundibuliform. | |--------------------|------------------------------------| | Operculum compressed, bivalve, and shelly: base closed by shelly matter. | 8. Chelosoria. | | Base of the form of the substance to which it adheres. | 9. Pyrgoma. |
| Base of the body produced into a tendinous, flexible peduncle, which is composed of two coats, which pass downwards from the upper part. The interior coat is lined by longitudinal muscular fibres, and the cavity... | Cirripedes is filled by cellular matter, one side of which is traversed by a longitudinal cylindric vessel. The base of the peduncle generally spreads a little, and is closed over by the tunic.
The upper part of the body is covered by three coats; the outer one is hardest, and has generally shelly matter deposited on it. The interior coat does not pass down over the peduncle, but is confined to the upper part, and surrounds the automatic organs, and the legs, which pass out through a longitudinal slit on the anterior side of the body.
Family I. Clytidii.
Gen. Conchoderma, Olfers.
Upper part of the body not much compressed; the scales small; two on each side below the legs; two on the summit, and one behind.
Gen. 1. Orton, Leach. Auritella, Blainville MSS.
Upper part of the body abruptly clavate with two cylindrical fleshy processes on the summit.
Sp. 1. Blainvilli. All the scales shelly; those on the summit very small, linear; hinder one very minute.
Lepas cornuta. Montagu, Trans. Linn. Soc. xi. 179. t. 12. f. 1. Plate LVII.
A single specimen was found in the bottom of a transport that was stranded on the coast of Devon. The colour, whilst living, was whitish, spotted and streaked with brownish purple.
It seems to be distinct from the Lepas leporina, Poli, tab. vi. f. 21.
Sp. 2. Cuvieri. Scales beneath the legs shelly; other scales corneous.
Lepas aurita. Cuvier, Mem. du Mus. ii. pl. 5. f. 12.
Mr Comyns sent us a specimen that was taken on the Dawlish coast in Devon, where it was most probably brought on the bottom of a ship.
Gen. 2. Cineras. Upper part of the body gradually clavate, with the summit simple.
Sp. 1. Vittata. Pale bluish purple, with three pale bluish purple stripes on each side of the body.
Lepas membranacea. Monl. Trans. Linn. Soc. xi. 182. t. 12. f. 2. Plate LVII.
This species has been taken on the southern coast of Devon by Mr Gibbs, and by C. Loscombe, Esq. of Exmouth. We suspect, however, that it was introduced into our seas by foreign vessels, as they are not unfrequently found adhering to the bottoms of transports and merchant vessels. It differs from Lepas coiracea, Poli, Tab. vi. f. 20., in the form of the scales beneath the legs.
We have seen two other species of cineras, one adhering to a hydra in the collection of John Hunter, the other in the collection of animals formed in the expedition to Congo, by Mr J. Cranch.
Family II. Pollicipedidi.
Upper part of the body very much compressed, and covered entirely by shelly plates.
Gen. 3. Pentalasmis, Hill.
Upper part of the body with five scales; lower ones very large; upper ones elongate, acuminate behind; hinder ones linear curved; peduncle naked.
* Hinder scale gradually curved; peduncle long.
This division comprehends Lepas anatifa of Linne, and several species that have been confounded with it.
** Hinder scale gradually curved; peduncle very short.
Pentalasmis sulcata, Plate LVII. Lepas anatifa Poli, Lepas sulcata Montagu; a species common on the southern coast of Devon adhering to cuttle-bone. Lepas muricata Poli, tab. vi. f. 23-24. together with several sulcated species, which generally attach themselves to porous bodies, belong to this section.
*** Hinder scale angulated; peduncle very short.
Lepas fascicularis with a very diaphanous shell, is the only species of this section that we have observed.
Gen. 4. Scalpellum.
Upper part of the body with thirteen scales; the hinder one linear; the upper ones semicircular; the five lower ones on each side (occupying the place held by the two lower ones in Pentalasmis) small; peduncle with corneous wrinkles, the interstices hairy.
Sp. 1. Vulgare. Hinder scale carinated and sub-angulated. Plate LVII.
Lepas scalpellum, Linne.
Inhabits the Mediterranean and British Seas, adhering to coralline substances, and to the tubes of marine vermes.
Gen. 5. Pollicipes, Hill.
Upper part of the body with five large scales, and several smaller ones at their base; upper scales, and that on each side below the legs largest; hinder one acuminate above; peduncle scaly; scales testaceous.
Sp. 1. Cornucopia. Peduncle imbricated with scales; the scales pointing upwards and rounded at their extremities; scales of the upper part of the body smooth and whitish.
Lepas pollicipes of authors. Plate LVII.
This species is said to inhabit the Norwegian Seas. It has been taken in the Firth of Forth, near Leith, and was probably brought there attached to the bottom of a ship:
Sp. 2. Smythii. Peduncle, with irregular scales; the interstices membranaceous; scales of the upper part of the body smooth; in the old state antiquated.
Inhabits Teneriffe, where it was discovered by the late Professor Smyth of Christiania, who gave us a large group of them.
Sp. 3. Tomentosus. The whole body tomentose. Plate LVII.
The locality of this species, which is preserved in the British Museum, is unknown.
Lepas mitella, Linne, probably belongs to the genus Pollicipes.
Order II. Acamptosomata.
Body surrounded by a shell, composed of one or more parts, which are connected by sutures; upper part open and closed by a fleshy or bivalve testaceous operculum, through which the legs pass out.
Family I. Coronulidii.
Operculum fleshy and prominent. Shell sex-partite, open below.
The animals of this family attach themselves to the bodies of whales and turtles.
Gen. 6. Tubicinella, Lamarck.
Shell cylindrical, like a windpipe, narrower at its base. Four large equal shelly plates arranged round the operculum.
Sp. 1. Lamarckii. Tubicinella trachealis, Lamarck.
Plate LVII.
Gen. 7. Coronula, Lamarck.
Shell subcylindrical, or depressed subconic; base much wider than the apex; lips of operculum very prominent, with two large shell valves before and one small one on each side of the legs.
Sp. 1. Diadema. Lepas diadema of authors.
Gen. 8. Chelonia.
Shell depressed, with its base much wider than its apex; operculum protected by four large equal valves.
Sp. 1. Savignii. Balanus rotundarius of authors.
Inhabits turtles.
Family II. Balanidae.
Operculum testaceous, compressed, bivalve. Base of shell flat or concave.
A. Base cup-shaped or infundibuliform.
Gen. 9. Pyrgoma, Savigny MSS.
Shell undivided. Valves of the operculum bipartite. Base infundibuliform.
The base of the shells of this genus is imbedded in the harder species of coral.
Sp. 1. Cancellata. Shell with elevated radiating ribs; interstices cancellated; canelli and ribs frosted.
Plate LVII. represents two attached to coral, one reversed, and three figures of the operculum; the first complete, the second of one valve, the third of one of the valves separated.
The locality of this species is unknown. J.-C. Savigny sent us another species, which he discovered in the Red Sea; and we have observed a third in the collection of Mr Sowerby.
Gen. 10. Creusia.
Shell quadripartite; parts equal. Valves of the operculum unipartite. Base infundibuliform.
This genus is likewise parasitical, and is found attached to coral, in which its base is imbedded.
Sp. 1. Spinulosa. Upper parts of the shell with radiating elevated ribs; ribs spinulose; space between the parts of the shell without ribs.
Plate LVII.
Gen. 11. Acasta.
Shell sexpartite; two parts small, four large. Valves of the operculum bipartite. Base cup-shaped and separate.
The Acasta inhabit different sorts of sponge, in which they are found imbedded. We have observed several species in collections, but believe that two only have been described by authors, viz. Lepas spongites, Poli, tab. vi. fig. 3—6; and
Sp. 2. Montagu.—Lepas spongeosa, Montagu Test. Brit. Suppl. page 2. Plate LVII. natural size magnified, and with the operculum magnified.
B. Base of the form of the substance to which it adheres.
Gen. 12. Balanus of authors.
Shell sexpartite; two parts small and four large. Valves of the operculum bipartite.
Sp. 1. Blainvilli. Shell rugose, towards the opening striated deeply; operculum transversely striated; ridges produced into teeth on the anterior margin.
Plate LVII.
This species is very common on the coast of Devonshire, adhering to rocks.
Gen. 13. Conia.
Shell quadripartite, parts equal. Valves of the operculum bipartite.
Sp. 1. Porosa.
Balanus porosus of authors.
Gen. 14. Clisia, Savigny MSS.
Shell quadripartite. Valves of the operculum undivided.
Sp. 1. Striata.
Balanus striatus. Penn. Brit. Zool. tab. 38. f. 7.
Inhabits the coast of Great Britain, being found attached to marine plants, crustacea, and testaceous mollusca.
(vi.)