Preface

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_ My duty, in acknowledging the great obligations under which I lie to many naturalists, affords me most sincere pleasure. I had originally intended to have described only a single abnormal Cirripede, from the shores of South America, and was led, for the sake of comparison, to examine the internal parts of as many genera as I could procure. Under these circumstances, Mr. J. E. Gray, in the most disinterested manner, suggested to me making a Monograph on the entire class, although he himself had already collected materials for this same object. Furthermore, Mr. Gray most kindly gave me his strong support, when I applied to the Trustees of the British Museum for the use of the public collection; and I here most respectfully beg to offer my grateful acknowledgments to the Trustees, for their most liberal and unfettered permission of examining, and when necessary, disarticulating the specimens in the magnificent collection of Cirripedes, commenced by Dr. Leach, and steadily added to, during many years, by Mr. Gray. Considering the difficulty in determining the species in this class, had it not been for this most liberal permission by the Trustees, the public collection would have been of no use to me, or to any other naturalist, in systematically classifying the Cirripedes. Previously to Mr. Gray suggesting to me the present Monograph, Mr. Stutchbury, of Bristol, had offered to intrust to me his truly beautiful collection, the fruit of many years' labour. At that time I refused this most generous offer, intending to confine myself to anatomical observations; but I have since accepted it, and still have the entire splendid collection for my free use. Mr. Stutchbury, with unwearied kindness, further supplied me with fresh specimens for dissection, and with much valuable information. At about the same period, Mr. Cuming strongly urged me to take up the subject, and his advice had more weight with me than that of almost any other person. He placed his whole magnificent collection at my disposal, and urged me to treat it as if it were my own: whenever I told him that I thought it necessary, he permitted me to open unique specimens of great value, and dissect the included animal. I shall always feel deeply honoured by the confidence reposed in me by Mr. Cuming and Mr. Stutchbury. I lie under obligations to so many naturalists, that I am, in truth, at a loss how to express my gratitude. Mr. Peach, over and over again, sent me fresh specimens of several species, and more especially of Scalpellum vulgare, which were of invaluable assistance to me in making out the singular sexual relations in that species. Mr. Peach, furthermore, made for me observations on several living individuals. Mr. W. Thompson, the distinguished Natural Historian of Ireland, has sent me the finest collection of British species, and their varieties, which I have seen, together with many very valuable MS. observations, and the results of experiments. Prof. Owen procured for me the loan of some very interesting specimens in the College of Surgeons, and has always given me his invaluable advice and opinion, when consulted by me. Professor E. Forbes has been, as usual, most kind in obtaining for me specimens and information of all kinds. To the Rev. R. T. Lowe I am indebted for his particularly interesting collection of Cirripedes from the Island of Madeira--a collection offering a singular proof what treasures skill and industry can discover in the most confined locality. The well-known conchologist, Mr. J. G. Jeffreys, has sent for my examination a very fine collection of British specimens, together with a copious MS. list of synonyms, with the authorities quoted. To the kindness of Messrs. M^c Andrew, Lovell Reeve, G. Busk, G. B. Sowerby, Sen., D. Sharpe, Bowerbank, Hancock, Adam White, Dr. Baird, Sir John Richardson, and several other gentlemen, I am greatly indebted for specimens and information: to Mr. Hancock I am further indebted for several long and interesting letters on the burrowing of Cirripedes. Nor are my obligations confined to British naturalists. Dr. Aug. Gould, of Boston, has most kindly transmitted to me some very interesting specimens; as has Prof. Agassiz other specimens collected by himself in the Southern States. To Mr. J. D. Dana, I am much indebted for several long letters, containing original and valuable information on points connected with the anatomy of the Cirripedia. To Mr. Conrad I am likewise indebted for information and assistance. Both the celebrated Professors, Milne Edwards and Müller, have lent me, from the great public collections under their charge, specimens which I should not otherwise have seen. To Professor W. Dunker, of Cassel, I am indebted for the examination of his whole collection. I have, in a former publication, expressed my thanks to Professor Steenstrup, but I must be permitted here to repeat them, for a truly valuable present of a specimen of the Anelasma squalicola of this work. I will conclude my thanks to all the above British and foreign naturalists, by stating my firm conviction, that if a person wants to ascertain how much true kindness exists amongst the disciples of Natural History, he should undertake, as I have done, a Monograph on some tribe of animals, and let his wish for assistance be generally known. Had it not been for the Ray Society, I know not how the present volume could have been published; and therefore I beg to return my most sincere thanks to the Council of this distinguished Institution. To Mr. G. B. Sowerby, Junr., I am under obligations for the great care he has taken in making preparatory drawings, and in subsequently engraving them. I believe naturalists will find that the ten plates here given are faithful delineations of nature. In Monographs, it is the usual and excellent custom to give a history of the subject, but this has been so fully done by Burmeister, in his 'Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Rankenfüsser,' and by M. G. Martin St. Ange, in his 'Mémoire sur l'Organisation des Cirripèdes,' that it would be superfluous here to repeat the same list of authors. I will only add, that since the date, 1834, of the above works, the only important papers with which I am acquainted, are, 1st. Dr. Coldstream 'On the Structure of the Shell in Sessile Cirripedes,' in the 'Encyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology;' 2d. Dr. Lovén 'On the Alepas squalicola,' ('Ofversigt of Kongl. Vetens.,' &c. Stockholm, 1844, p. 192,) giving a short but excellent account of this abnormal Cirripede; 3d. Professor Leidy's very interesting discovery, ('Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences,' Philadelphia, vol. iv, No. I, Jan. 1848,) of eyes in a mature Balanus; 4th. Mr. A. Hancock's Memoir, ('Annals of Natural History, 2d series, Nov. 1849,) on his Alcippe lampas, the type of a new order of Cirripedes; 5th. Mr. Goodsir's Paper, ('Edinburgh New Philosoph. Journal,' July 1843,) on the Larvæ in the First Stage of Development in Balanus; 6th. Mr. C. Spence Bate's valuable Paper on the same subject, lately published, (Oct. 1851,) in the 'Annals of Natural History;' and lastly, M. Reinhardt has described, in the 'Copenhagen Journal of Natural History, Jan. 1851,' the Lithotrya Nicobarica, and has discussed its powers of burrowing into rocks. I have given the specific or diagnostic characters, deduced from the external parts alone, in both Latin and English. As I found, during the progress of this work, that a similarly abbreviated character of the softer internal parts, was very useful in discriminating the species, I have inserted it after the ordinary specific character. In those cases in which a genus includes only a single species, I have followed the practice of some botanists, and given only the generic character, believing it to be impossible, before a second species is discovered, to know which characters will prove of specific, in contradistinction to generic, value. In accordance with the Rules of the British Association, I have faithfully endeavoured to give to each species the first name attached to it, subsequently to the introduction of the binomial system, in 1758, in the tenth edition[1] of the 'Systema Naturæ.' In accordance with the Rules, I have rejected all names before this date, and all MS. names. In one single instance, for reasons fully assigned in the proper place, I have broken through the great law of priority. I have given much fewer synonyms than is usual in conchological works; this partly arises from my conviction that giving references to works, in which there is not any original matter, or in which the Plates are not of a high order of excellence, is absolutely injurious to the progress of natural history, and partly, from the impossibility of feeling certain to which species the short descriptions given in most works are applicable;--thus, to take the commonest species, the Lepas anatifera, I have not found a single description (with the exception of the anatomical description by M. Martin St. Ange) by which this species can be certainly discriminated from the almost equally common Lepas Hillii. I have, however, been fortunate in having been permitted to examine a considerable number of authentically named specimens, (to which I have attached the sign (!) used by botanists,) so that several of my synonyms are certainly correct.

[1] In the Rules published by the British Association, the 12th edition, (1766,) is specified, but I am informed by Mr. Strickland that this is an error, and that the binomial method was followed in the 10th edition.

The Lepadidæ, or pedunculated Cirripedes, have been neglected under a systematic point of view, to a degree which I cannot quite understand: no doubt they are subject to considerable variation, and as long as the internal surfaces of the valves and all the organs of the animal's body, are passed over as unimportant, there will occasionally be some difficulty in the identification of the several forms, and still more in settling the limits of the variability of the species. But I suspect the pedunculated Cirripedes have, in fact, been neglected owing to their close affinity, and the consequent necessity of their being included in the same Work with the Sessile Cirripedes; for these latter will ever present, I am fully convinced, insuperable difficulties in their identification by external characters alone. I will here only further remark, that in the Introduction I have given my reasons for assigning distinct names to the several Valves, and to some parts of the included animal's body; and that in the Introductory Remarks, under the general description of the Lepadidæ, I have given an abstract of my Anatomical Observations. CORRIGENDA AND ADDENDA. Page 12, twenty lines from bottom, for "hinder pair of true thoracic limbs," read "pair of true thoracic limbs." 42, 43. I should have added, that the number of the segments in the cirri increases with the age of the specimen; but that the relative numbers in the different cirri keep, as far as I have seen, nearly constant; hence the numbers are often given in the descriptions. 99 et passim, for Pæcilasma, read Poecilasma. 156. In a foot-note, I have alluded to a new genus of sessile Cirripedes, under the name of Siphonicella, I now find that this species has been called, by Professor Steenstrup, Xenobalanus globicipitis. _

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