[101] I am much indebted to M. Bosquet for specimens bearing this title, from Klein Spauwen, which certainly appear to me, as far as can be judged by the separated compartments, without the opercular valves, to belong to our present species.
Parietes thin, sometimes permeated by pores; radii with their upper margins oblique; sutural edges very finely crenated: basis solid. Tergum with the spur narrow, bluntly pointed.
Var. erisma, with the walls longitudinally folded or ribbed.
Fossil in the Eocene formation, Isle of Wight, Colwell Bay; Hordwell; Barton, (Chama Bed); Headon; Bembridge. Bergh, near Klein Spauwen, Belgium (?). Attached to various shells and wood. Mus. J. de C. Sowerby, E. Forbes, F. Edwards, Charlsworth, T. Wright, Bowerbank, Tennant, Bosquet.
This species, the most ancient one as yet well known in the genus, presents to the systematist a most unfortunate peculiarity, in the parietes being almost as often as not permeated by small pores: I have seen no other instance, except to a limited degree in [B. glandula], of this character being variable, and hence it must be still considered of high classificatory value, in so varying genus as [Balanus]. Owing to this varying condition of the parietes, together with the basis being quite solid, our present species has as good a claim to be ranked in the last as in the present section; indeed, I think it has more affinity to [B. crenatus] and [glandula] in the last section, than to any other recent forms: I have placed it in its present place, owing to its intimate affinity to [B. varians], in which the parietes seem always to be solid; and partly, I believe, because all the first specimens examined by me exhibited no traces of parietal pores. Owing to the kindness of Mr. F. Edwards, I have seen the original specimens, excellently figured by Mr. J. de C. Sowerby in the ‘Mineral Conchology:’ I can perceive no difference between [B. unguiformis] and erisma, excepting that the walls in the latter are longitudinally folded,—a character we know to be variable in so many species. In both varieties, the parietes are sometimes porose and sometimes solid. The smaller specimens, however, figured in the ‘Mineral Conchology’ to the right hand, may possibly be a distinct species, as I infer from the narrowness of their radii.
General Appearance.—Shell, tubulo-conical, sometimes considerably elongated and sub-cylindrical: surface either very smooth, or slightly folded, or deeply folded so as to be strongly ribbed longitudinally: orifice rather large, rhomboidal, narrow at the carinal end, toothed, but not deeply: walls rather thin and fragile: radii of moderate width, with their summits oblique, not quite smooth. Basal diameter of largest specimen, about three quarters of an inch.
Scuta, with the external surface smooth: there is a trace of a furrow running down the valve from the apex, near to the occludent margin, and this is only worth mentioning from the analogous furrows in [B. bisulcatus]. Internally, the upper surface of the valve is roughened: the articular ridge is very prominent, and slightly reflexed: there is no distinct adductor ridge; there is a slight but variable depression for the lateral depressor. Tergum, with the longitudinal furrow shallow; spur moderately long, about one fourth or one fifth of the width of the valve; placed at about its own width from the basi-scutal angle; basal end bluntly pointed; the basal margin on the opposite sides of the spur forms a nearly straight line; the carinal margin has an extremely narrow border formed by upturned lines of growth. Internally, the surface is roughened with little points: the articular ridge is prominent: the crests for the tergal depressores moderately prominent.
Parietes: the longitudinal ribs on the internal surface are either feebly, or, in the lower part, strongly developed; their basal ends are only just perceptibly denticulated. As already stated, in about half the specimens, there were no traces of parietal pores; in the other half there were either distinct or obscure pores; the pores are circular, generally of unequal sizes, and never large; in the same individual they would sometimes be almost wholly absent in some of the compartments, and quite plain in the other compartments. The Radii are either moderately wide or rather narrow, and have their upper margins very oblique, and not distinctly arched, and not quite smooth: their sutural edges are very finely crenated, the teeth or septa not being denticulated. The upper margins of the alæ are rather less oblique than those of the radii: their sutural edges are barely crenated. The basis is thin, and without any trace of pores; the upper surface is sometimes furrowed in radiating lines.