14 LEPADES. 



It has been supposed by some naturalists, that the Lepas, when 

 young, is a free swimming animal, having considerable power of loco- 

 motion ; that it is furnished with a kind of bivalve shell, as also with 

 distinct pedunculated eyes, and that after a certain period it fixes itself 

 to some marine body. 



It is asserted, that upon thus becoming attached, the animal passes 

 through a series of metamorphoses, throws off the bivalve shell, and, 

 having no further occasion for an organ of vision, covers the eyes with 

 calcareous matter. We have not, however, succeeded in testing this 

 hypothesis, and feel much rather inclined to follow the observations of 

 Gray, published in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society.' 



Although Bruguiere separated the pedunculated from the sessile Le- 

 pades by dividing them into two genera, Anatifa and Balanus, Dr. Leach 

 may be considered as the first who succeeded in establishing a clear and 

 natural arrangement of these singular animals. They were also similarly 

 divided by him into Campylosomata and Acampylosomata, the Peduncu- 

 lata and Sessilia of Lamarck ; but by assigning to these divisions the 

 rank of orders, he was enabled to introduce several distinct and cha- 

 racteristic genera, which have been for the most part adopted. He 

 also made several smaller subdivisions in manuscript in the British Mu- 

 seum, which have been embodied by Gray in a skilful monograph on 

 these animals in the ' Annals of Philosophy'; we do not, however, at 

 present see the necessity of so extended a classification. 



It may be as well to state that we have abandoned the term Cirripedes 

 for the original title of Lepades, because we conceive the former to be 

 inappropriate. It is obvious that the cirri cannot be considered as feet or 

 legs ; they are not organs of locomotion, and certainly not analogous to 

 the locomotive organs which characterize the primary distribution of the 

 Mollusca. 



In accordance with the arrangement above noted, we divide the Le- 

 pades into two orders, as follows : 



Sessiles. 

 Pedunculate. 



