66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



books except that to my surprise new editions have lately 

 been called for.* 



In October, 1846, I began to work on * Cirripedia.' When 

 on the coast of Chile, I found a most curious form, which 

 burrowed into the shells of Concholepas, and which differed 

 so much from all other Cirripedes that I had to form a new 

 sub-order for its sole reception. Lately an allied burrowing 

 genus has been found on the shores of Portugal. To under- 

 stand the structure of my new Cirripede I had to examine 

 and dissect many of the common forms ; and this gradually 

 led me on to take up the whole group. I worked steadily on 

 this subject for the next eight years, and ultimately published 

 two thick volumes,! describing all the known living species, 

 and two thin quartos on the extinct species. I do not doubt 

 that Sir E. Lytton Bulwer had me in his mind when he intro- 

 duced in one of his novels a Professor Long, who had written 

 tv/o huge volumes on limpets. 



Although I was employed during eight years on this 

 work, yet I record in my diary that about two years out of 

 this time was lost by illness. On this account I went in 1848 

 for some months to Malvern for hydropathic treatment, which 

 did me much good, so that on my return home I was able to 

 resume work. So much was I out of health that when my 

 dear father died on November i3th, 1848, I was unable to 

 attend his funeral or to act as one of his executors. 



My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considera- 

 ble value, as besides describing several new and remarkable 

 forms, I made out the homologies of the various parts I dis- 

 covered the cementing apparatus, though I blundered dread- 

 fully about the cement glands and lastly I proved the exist- 

 ence in certain genera of minute males complemental to and 

 parasitic on the hermaphrodites. This latter discovery has 

 at last been fully confirmed ; though at one time a German 



* 'Geological Observations,' 2nd Edit. 1876. ' Coral Reefs,' 2nd Edit 

 1874. 



f Published by the Ray Society. 



