(Fœm. et Herm.) Valvæ 4, corneæ: pedunculus spinis corneis, persistentibus vestitus.

(Fem. and Herm.) Valves four, horny: peduncle clothed with persistent, horny spines.

Body partly lodged within the peduncle; mandibles with three teeth; maxillæ with two obscure notches; outer maxillæ pointed; olfactory orifices prominent; caudal appendages multiarticulate.

Male and Complemented Male, parasitic within the sack of the female or hermaphrodite; mouth and thorax seated on a long tapering peduncle, but not enclosed within a capitulum; mouth with normal trophi, but palpi small and almost rudimental; cirri rudimental, reduced to two pairs; penis reduced to a pore; caudal appendages rudimentary.

Attached to fixed littoral objects: Eastern Hemisphere.

General Remarks.—As there are only two species as yet known, and as these resemble each other in every respect most closely, a generic description would be a useless repetition of the full details given under [Ibla Cumingii]. I have taken this latter species as the type, from having, owing to the kindness of Mr. Cuming, better and more numerous specimens. Ibla and Lithotrya are the only two recent genera in which the body of the animal is lodged within the peduncle; but there is no distinction of any importance, though useful for classification, between the capitulum and peduncle; and these two parts, as we have seen, tend to blend together in some species of Conchoderma and Alepas. The entire absence of calcareous matter in the valves and spines of the peduncle, at first appears very remarkable; but we have seen a similar fact in Alepas, and there is an approach to it in some varieties of [Conchoderma aurita] and C. virgata. In all four valves of Ibla, the umbones, or centres of growth, are at their upper points. The horny spines on the peduncle, are the analogues of the calcareous scales in Scalpellum and Pollicipes; and in this latter genus, two of the species have their scales, almost cylindrical, placed irregularly, with new ones forming over all parts of the surface, and not exclusively at the summit,—in which several respects there is an agreement with Ibla. The shape of the body (i. e. thorax and prosoma, [Pl. IV], [fig. 8 a´]) is peculiar; but it is only a slight exaggeration of what we have seen in several genera, and shall meet again in some species of Scalpellum. The presence of hairs on the outer membrane of the prosoma is a peculiarity confined to this genus amongst the Lepadidæ, though observed in the sessile genus, Chthamalus. The caudal appendages in the I. quadrivalvis attain a greater length than in any other species of the family, being four times the length of the pedicels of the sixth cirrus. A far more important peculiarity is the fact of the œsophagus, in both species, running over or exteriorly to the adductor scutorum muscle, instead of, as in every other species, close under this muscle. I took great pains in ascertaining the truth of this singular anomaly: the course of the œsophagus is approximately represented in [Pl. IV], [fig. 8 a´] by faint dotted lines. The stomach has no cæca; the biliary folds are longitudinal; there is a marked constriction at the line corresponding with the junction of the thorax and prosoma. There are no filamentary appendages.

The generative system gives the chief interest to this genus. We here first meet with Males and Females distinct; and, within the limits of this same restricted genus, the far more wonderful fact of hermaphrodites, whose masculine efficiency is aided by one or two Complemental Males. The complemental and simple males closely resemble each other, as do the female and hermaphrodite forms; but under the two following species I enter into such full and minute details on these remarkable facts, that I will not here dilate on them. I may add that, at the end of the genus Scalpellum, I give a summary of the facts, and discuss the whole question. The penis ([Pl. IV], [fig. 9 a]) in the hermaphrodite, I. quadrivalvis, is singular, from the length of its unarticulated support, and from the distinctness of the segments in the articulated portion.

As ovigerous fræna occur in the usual place in I. quadrivalvis, though much smaller than in any other species, I have no doubt that they occur in I. Cumingii, although I failed in observing them. The glands on the margin, in I. quadrivalvis, are singular, from not being borne on a long, hair-like footstalk.

Affinities.—Ibla, though externally very different in appearance from Scalpellum, is more nearly related to that genus than to any other; in both genera some species have the sexes separate, the imperfect males being parasitic on the female, and other species are bisexual or hermaphrodite, but aided by parasitic complemental males. In Scalpellum, again, the œsophagus pursues a sinuous course, resembling that in Ibla, though it does not pass exteriorly to the adductor scutorum muscle. The disc of the prehensile antennæ of the larva, in both genera, has an unusual oblong form, like a mule’s hoof; there is also an affinity between the two genera in the size and form of the ova, in the prominent orifices of the olfactory cavities, and in the peduncle not being naked; though, in these two latter respects, in the structure of the cirri, and in the multiarticulate caudal appendages, there is an equal affinity to Pollicipes and Lithotrya. I have already shown that Alepas is likewise related to Ibla.

1. Ibla Cumingii. [Pl. IV], [fig. 8.]