67 



Genus — Lepas. Plate I. 



Lepas. Linnaut.* Systema Naturae, 1767- 

 Anatifa. Brugiere.-\ Encyclop. Method, (des Vers), 1789. 

 Anatifera. {Lister} et plerumque Auctorum Anglicorum. 

 Pentalasmis. (Hill.) Leach. Journal de Physique, July, 1817. 

 Pentalepas. De Blainville. Diet, des Sci. Nat., 1824. 

 Dosima. /. E. Gray. Annals of Philosophy, vol. x, 1825. 



Valvce 5, approximate : carina sursiim inter terga 

 extensa, deorsiini aut furcd infossd aut disco externo 

 terminata : scuta subtriangula, umbonibus ad angulum 

 rostralem positis. 



Valves 5, approximate : carina extending up between 

 the terga, terminating downwards in an embedded fork, 

 or in an external disc : scuta sub triangular, with their 

 umbones at the rostral angle. 



Filaments seated beneath the basal articulation of the 

 first cirri ; mandibles with five teeth ; maxillae step- 

 formed ; caudal appendages uniarticulate, smooth. 



Distribution. — Mundane ; attached to floating objects. 



Description. — Capitulum flattened, sub -triangular, 

 composed of five approximate valves. The valves are 



* Linnaeus, as is well known, included under this genus both the pedun- 

 culated and sessile Cirripedes. According to the rules of the British 

 Association, the name Lepas must be retained for part of the genus ; and as 

 the sessile division was named Balauus, by Lister and Hill, even before the 

 invention of the binomial system, and subsequently, in 1778, by Da Costa, 

 and again, in 1789, by Brugiere, there can be no question that Lepas must 

 be applied to the pedunculated section of the genus. In this instance it is 

 particularly desirable to recur to the Linnean name, as no other name has 

 been generally adopted. Had not Lister and Sir J. Hill published before the 

 binomial system, their names of Anatifera and Pentalasmis would have had 

 prior claims to Lepas. 



f The date of this publication is almost universally given as 1792, appa- 

 rently caused by an error in the title-page of the First Part, which has 

 consequently been cancelled. The First Part contains Anatifa and Balanus, 

 and was published in 1789. The Second Part was published in 1792, and 

 has a corrected title-page for the whole volume. 



