(sect, a), balanus capensis. 209 



the coast of Africa, and afterwards to Patagonia ; consequently nume- 

 rous specimens of B. psittacus had become attached on B. tintinna- 

 bulum, and subsequently during the voyage home, some few of the 

 latter again had adhered on B. psittacus : the contrast in the paler 

 colour and hexagonal orifice of this species, with the darker tints and 

 more trigonal orifice of B. tintinnabulum was striking. At Coquimbo, 

 in Chile, I procured a speciuien of B. psittacus, attached to a chain 

 cable which had been in the water only six months ; this specimen 

 measured I -3 of an inch in basal diameter, and *8 in height: this 

 shows a rapid rate of growth. Lastly, I may mention that it is 

 asserted by Molina, and I am assured by Mr. Cuming that the state- 

 ment is perfectly correct, that this Balanus, when cooked, is universally 

 esteemed as a delicious article of food. 



4. Balanus Capensis. PL 2, fig. 4 a, 4 b. 



Balanus capensis ore obliquo. Ellis. Phil. Transact., vol. 50 

 (175S), Tab. 34, fig. 14. 



Shell shaded, and often longitudinally striped with bright 

 pink. Scutum as in B. psittacus. Tergum with the apex 

 produced and needle-like, white : spur placed at its own 

 width from the basi-scutal angle. 



Hab. — Cape of Good Hope. Attached to stems of Fuci, Algoa Bay. Mus. 

 Brit, and Bowerbank. Attached to a Patella, Mus. Darwin, Mus. Cuming, and 

 Stutchbury. Attached to floating kelp, Lagulhas Bank, Mus. James Ross, 

 associated with B. tintinnabulum and spongicola. 



This species comes extremely close to the South American B. psit- 

 tacus, and I should hardly have attached a specific name to it, had I 

 not examined many specimens, young and old, of the true B. psit- 

 tacus, from Peru, Chile, and Eastern Patagonia, and found them 

 all identical in the few, apparently trifling points, in which that 

 species differs from B. capensis. The animal's body and the shell 

 agree in every respect, excepting that the shell is decidedly pinker, 

 being often most distinctly and prettily striped longitudinally with 

 pale and bright pink. In some of the specimens the basis is cup- 

 formed: in some, the broad radii are pale pink, in others they are quite 

 white, and in this latter case a singular aspect is given to the pinkish 

 varieties. In very large specimens (and I have seen one fully two 

 inches in basal diameter) the pink colour is extremely feeble, and the 

 whole shell has a very rugged, disintegrated, coarse, and sometimes 

 dirty appearance : in most of these large specimens the walls are more 

 massive than in B. psittacus, and the orifice of the shell rather smaller; 

 in some, however, the walls certainly are of unusual thinness. 



The Scuta differ from those of B. psittacus only in the basi- tergal 



14 



