CREUSIA. Lamarck. Animaux sans Vertèbres, 1818.
OCHTHOSIA. Ranzani. Memoire di Storia Nat., 1820.
LEPAS ET BALANUS AUCTORUM.
[136] According to Bock, in the ‘Naturforscher’ of 1778, this term was used by Rumph for a [Chelonobia], but as it was before the adoption of the binomial nomenclature, according to the Rules, it may be passed over, and does not interfere with the priority of Schumacher.
Distribution, Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Madeira, West Indies, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Peru.
The shell in this genus is extremely unsymmetrical, not two of the six pieces of which it is composed quite resembling each other. At first it appeared hopelessly difficult to identify, in a homological sense, these six valves, with those of ordinary cirripedes, but the difficulty soon quite vanished. The operculum consists of two moveable valves on one side, namely, a scutum and tergum, but without any moveable valves on the opposed side: the scutum, though remarkable from being much smaller than the tergum, can be easily recognised by giving attachment to the animal’s body and to the adductor scutorum muscle. The four other pieces are articulated together, and form the shell surrounding the sack, in which the animal’s body is enclosed: of these, the two against which the moveable scutum and tergum shut, are smaller, differ greatly in shape, and are articulated together in a different manner from the remaining two pieces; from these facts alone there would be a strong presumption that they were of a different nature. The fixed valve, against which the scutum shuts, is either furnished with a remarkably prominent plate (a in fig. [1 c], s′; compare this with s′ in the reversed shell in fig. [1 e]), or is hollowed out, as in [V. nexa], for the attachment of the adductor scutorum muscle. Thus it is rendered probable that this fixed valve is a modified scutum; but a surface of attachment for one end of the adductor muscle might, perhaps, have been developed on any other valve, or a scutum might have become fused with a lateral valve of the shell; the shell on this latter view being rendered in idea more symmetrical. But when a very young specimen is carefully examined, it is found that the moveable and fixed scutum, the moveable tergum and its opposed valve or fixed tergum, at the first period of calcification, resemble each other quite closely; but that, as each zone of shell is added, the differences become rapidly greater and greater: hence, it may be considered as directly proved, that the two fixed valves (S′ and T′ in all the figures in Pl. [21]), which are opposed to the moveable valves of the operculum (S and T), consist of an extraordinarily modified scutum and tergum. It has been shown (p. [129]), that at the period of the metamorphosis, the two scuta, the two terga, and the carina of the Lepadidæ, commence their growth, under the form of the so-called “primordial valves,” and so differ from all the other valves when such occur: now, in two species of [Verruca], I have found closely analogous primordial valves on the apices of both the moveable and fixed scutum and tergum (thus affording strong additional evidence that their nature has been rightly interpreted), and on one of the two remaining valves, namely, that at the posterior or carinal end of the shell. Hence, we may safely infer, that this latter valve, which, though very much more developed on one than on the other side, is so far medial as to curl round and cover the line of opening between the moveable and fixed tergum, is really a carina. The sixth valve differs only very slightly in shape from the carina, and is directly opposed to it; therefore, in accordance with all analogy, it must be the rostrum. Consequently, the shell in [Verruca] consists of a moveable scutum and tergum, a fixed scutum and tergum, a carina and rostrum, and, as we shall immediately see, a membranous basis—the basis being, as in all sessile cirripedes, the homologue of the peduncle in the Lepadidæ.
The moveable scutum and tergum stand at about right angles with the fixed pair; and as these latter form a part of the wall of the shell, which is always steep on this side, the moveable pair, which close the orifice, are nearly horizontal or parallel to the basis and surface of attachment. Hence, the animal’s body, which is attached between the two scuta, but nearest to the moveable scutum, also, lies nearly parallel to the surface of attachment; and I was consequently at first led to suspect that the basal membrane was one side of the shell in a modified condition; but the presence of the prehensile antennæ of the pupa in nearly the middle of this membrane, and the sheet of cement-tissue on its under side, demonstrate that this membrane, though lying on one side of the animal, is the true basis. To make all the parts in [Verruca] hold the same position as in other cirripedes, relatively to the surface of attachment, we must develope the carina and rostrum equally on both sides of the true longitudinal axis of the shell, and insert the newly-developed portion between the basis and the fixed scutum and tergum, reducing the latter in size, and tilting a little up the moveable scutum and tergum; and by this means the animal’s body would be turned, so that its dorso-ventral longitudinal plane would stand at right angles to the basal membrane.
Extraordinarily great as is the difference between the right and left sides of the whole shell, yet in all the species it seems to be entirely a matter of chance whether it be the right scutum and tergum with the right side of the rostrum and carina, or the left scutum and tergum with the left side of the rostrum and carina, which become abnormally developed. Nor does there seem to be any relation between the side of the operculum to be attached, whether right or left, and the nature of the surface of attachment; for I have seen many specimens adhering to perfectly level surfaces, and to quite cylindrical branches of Laminariæ; and in these cases, however the larva might attach itself, there could be nothing to favour the development of one side more than the other. Although the attached scuta and terga are larger than the moveable pair, yet, owing to the small development of the carina and rostrum on the attached side, the upper or unattached side must be considered as the most developed. In this respect, and in the circumstance of either right or left side being modified, we are reminded of the structure of Pœcilasma Kæmpferi (described in my former volume on the Lepadidæ), in which the valves on the side of the capitulum, nearest to the crab’s body, to which the specimens were attached, were somewhat less developed than those on the opposite side. I may add, that in ordinary Crustaceans, as I am informed by Professor Bell, the unequal development of the thoracic limbs seems quite capriciously to affect either the left or right side of the body.
General Appearance of the Shell.—The shell is in most cases much depressed and irregularly circular; the side formed by the fixed scutum and tergum is always steeper than the other side: the colour is white or pale brownish, and in [V. nexa] pale red. The surface is naked. The size is small, rarely exceeding a quarter of an inch in diameter, and the whole shell often appears like a mere scale on the surface of attachment. The most remarkable feature in the external aspect is due to the suture between the rostrum and carina, which is formed by oblique, interlocking plates or folds; as all these plates continue to be added to at their extremities during growth, the upper plates become longer than the lower ones; and the plates on both sides of the suture together form a triangular area, with the broad end uppermost, somewhat like the radius of a sessile cirripede: they act, also, like a radius, for their growth serves to separate these two valves, and so adds to the diameter of the shell. The suture between the rostrum and fixed scutum and that between the carina and fixed tergum are nearly of the same nature, but the former is more conspicuous than the latter; neither are so conspicuous as that between the carina and rostrum: accordingly as the right or left scutum and tergum are moveable, so the suture, second in plainness, (see Pl. [21], fig. [1 a], and [1 d],) is placed to the left or right hand. The fourth suture, between the fixed scutum and tergum, as viewed externally, is straight, and so very obscure that it has been overlooked by some authors, and the shell described as consisting of only three nearly equal pieces, for the fixed scutum and tergum together are about equal in size to the carina or rostrum. The orifice approaches more nearly to an unequal-sided triangle, with the apex broadly truncated, than to any other figure. The operculum fits with remarkable closeness, and is surrounded by a slight rim, formed by the edges of the four other valves.
Moveable Scutum and Tergum.—The scutum (S in [1 b] and [5]) is narrow and very small, barely equalling half the size of the tergum, and therefore proportionally much smaller than in any other cirripede; in a very young shell, however, (of [V. Strömia]) less than a pin’s head in size, the scutum equalled the tergum in size. The valve is remarkably thick; it is generally depressed down the middle; but in [V. nexa] this part is longitudinally ribbed. The occludent margin is curved. On the tergal margin there are two articular ridges (with a deepish furrow between them), of which the upper one (′ in S, in fig. [1 b], and [5]) extends from the apex about half-way down the valve; and the other, or lower articular ridge (′′ in S), generally runs down nearly to the basal margin: an angle, running from the apex to the basi-tergal corner of the valve, appears like a third articular ridge, but cannot properly be considered such. The above two articular ridges interfold with analogous ones on the scutal margin of the tergum, and so lock the valves together. On the under side (fig. [1 f]), the surface is bounded along the occludent margin by a slight rim: there is generally a very slight depression for the adductor muscle; but in [V. Spengleri] there is a straight, short, sharp (Pl. [21], fig. [2]), prominent adductor ridge.