[142] Adrien de Jussieu, in his ‘Memoir on the Malpighiaceæ,’ ‘Archives du Museum,’ tom. 3, p. 86, when speaking of the characters afforded by the degraded flowers, which in certain genera are borne together with ordinary flowers, makes the following observations bearing on the question here discussed, viz., whether or not to include [Alcippe] amongst the Lepadidæ. “Ces exemples peut-être aideront à comprendre comment à des genres d’une organisation assez compliquée, viennent quelquefois s’en rattacher d’autres d’une organisation beaucoup trop simple en apparence, membres appauvris et dégradés d’une même famille, qui lui appartiennent sans la représenter; comment le type, s’y présente comme effacé, ne conservant plus pour se laisser reconnaître que quelque trait isolé, mais caractéristique, dont la valeur, essentiellement ordinale, peut être ainsi constatée.” Under the point of view, so strongly and admirably insisted on lately by Milne Edwards (‘Annales des Sciences Nat.,’ 3d series, tom. 17), of describing types without regarding whether the different members blend together on their confines, perhaps [Alcippe] should be raised to the rank of a Family: I feel quite unable to decide how properly to act.
But we shall presently find, when we come to [Cryptophialus], that all the above difficulties, great as they are, are greatly enhanced, for [Cryptophialus] is certainly allied in a very direct and curious manner (in decided opposition to the remarks just made on special affinities) to [Alcippe], and yet in all the more important parts of its organisation, and in its metamorphosis, it differs so fundamentally, that I have felt myself obliged to form not merely a Family, but a distinct Order for its reception.
Genus—ALCIPPE. Pl. [22], [23].
ALCIPPE. Hancock. Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. 4, 1849, Pl. 8, 9.
Fem.—Capitulum without valves, with the orifice spinose: peduncle with the basal end added to during growth; its rostral surface depressed and covered by a horny disc: capitulum and peduncle imbedded in a cavity excavated in the shells of molluscs.
Labrum very large, with a row of long hairs on each side: palpi rudimentary: mandible one-toothed: second, third, and fourth cirri absent: fifth and sixth cirri with the posterior ramus represented by a button-like body: caudal appendages four jointed, muscular: anus none.
Males,—several, adhering to the upper end of the horny disc of the female: capitulum naked, transparent, elongated, with a small orifice at the end: peduncle lobed, with the lower end extending far beyond the pupal antennæ: eye, testis, and vesicula seminalis single; probosciformed penis very long: mouth, stomach, thorax, abdomen, and cirri none.