THE BURROWING BARNACLES (CIRRIPEDIAI ACROTHORACICA ) 9 



while Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (1947, fifth edition) cites only 

 cirriped! 



The Latin "pes, pedis," foot, would seem to require a "cirriped" 

 form, but it also could be derived from the French, where the cirri- 

 pede form would be permissible. A final argument is that, of the 

 dictionaries cited, cirriped was the only form accepted in two, while 

 none cited only cirripede. 



The next common name to be considered is barnacle. Diction- 

 aries usually state that this term pertains to members of the order 

 Thoracica only, leaving members of the other orders deprived of 

 common names except those derived from the scientific ones. Yet 

 common usage among the cirripedologists seems to allow such terms 

 as "parasitic barnacles" for the Asco thoracica and Rhizocephala, 

 and "burrowing barnacles" for the Acrothoracica. 



Again, let us look at the history of this word. Murray (op. cit., vol. 

 1888) cites the origin as the goose, not the shell it mythically comes 

 from. Then the term was applied to the pedunculate thoracicans, 

 finally also to the balanoids. Webster's {op. cit., 1961) definition is as 

 follows (brackets mine) : 



barnacle: Any of numerous marine crustaceans constituting the 

 Order [!] Cirripedia, being free-swimming in the larval state but per- 

 manently fixed as adults and protected by a calcified shell of several 

 pieces [not good, even for thoracicans], and having usually six pairs of 

 biramous feathery cirri that are modified limbs and are protruded and 

 drawn back with a grasping motion serving to catch the food that 

 floats within reach. 



If the use of "barnacle" conjures up images of rough-shelled fouling 

 organisms, what do we do with Alepasf Since this common name has 

 no direct association with the order Thoracica anyway, couldn't 

 we stretch it to include the Cirripedia in general? One advantage of 

 this position is that the use of the common name of "cirriped" would 

 be reduced, if the spelling of this form happens to cause any discomfort. 



The Burrow 



The burrow of aero thoracic an barnacles provides protection for the 

 soft-bodied animals, which lack shelly plates of their own. These 

 burrows are formed in almost anything calcareous in the sea. The 

 shape of the aperture is typically a tapered slit a few millimeters long 

 and less than a millimeter wide, as viewed from the outside. 



The families can be separated by burrow shape. The Lithoglyptidae 

 have burrow apertures in the shape of tapered slits several times 

 longer than wide (fig. 12o, p). The Cryptophialidae have short, almost 



