WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
15 
C1RRIPEDS. 
These peculiar crustaceans, commonly known 
as Barnacles, are interesting, as exhibiting a 
structure which connects two distinct great di- 
visions. The animals composing this class have 
so many characters in common with the mol- 
lusca, that they were formerly regarded as be- 
longing to that subdivision. The Cirripeds are 
divided into the pedunculated and the sessile. 
Of the former the most common is Lepas 
anatifera, notorious on ac- 
count of the old tradition 
that a species of Goose was, 
in due course of nature, pro- 
duced from its shell. The 
annexed engraving, taken 
from Gerard’s “ Herball,” 
published in 1597, will fully 
illustrate the old tradition in 
regard to the Barnacle Goose. 
The description accompany- 
ing the same is as follows: 
“In the north part of Scot- 
land and the adjacent islands 
called Orkney’s, are found 
‘certain trees’ whereon do 
grow certain shellfish, of a 
white color tending to russet, that contain little 
living creatures, whose shells in time of matu- 
rity burst open, and through this opening grow 
those little fowls called Barnacles; in the north 
of England, Brant Geese, and in Lancarshire, 
Tree Geese, but those that fall upon the land 
come to nothing.” 
Gerard further relates what his eyes saw, and 
hands touched, as follows : “ On the coast of a 
certain ‘ small Island called Pile of Foulder’s,’ 
the wreckage of ships is cast up by the 
waves, along with the trunks and branches 
‘of old and rotten trees.’ On these ‘a cer- 
tain spume or froth ’ grows ; this spume in 
time breedeth certain shells, in shape like those 
af the mollusca, but sharper pointed, and of a 
whitish color. When the shell is perfectly formed 
it ‘gapeth open and the first thing that appears, 
is the lace or string,’ ” the substance described by 
Gerard as contained within the shell — “ next 
come the legs of the Bird, hanging out ; and as 
it grows greater it opens by degrees, till at length 
it all comes forth, and hangs only by the bill ; in 
a short time afterwards it comes to full maturity 
and falls into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, 
and groweth to a fowl, bigger than a Mallard, 
and lesser than a Goose, having black legs and 
bill, as well as black and white feathers, which 
the people of Lancarshire call by no other name 
than Tree Goose. In Figure 1, you will notice 
in two cases, the little geese protruding, whilst 
several of the fully fledged fowls are disporting 
themselves in the sea below.” 
Fig. 1. 
The following account of the Barnacle Tree 
was taken from a work of Sir Robert Moray’s, 
entitled, “A Relation concerning Barnacles,” 
published in the Philosophical Transactions of 
the Royal Society, in 1677-78 ; “ Being in the 
Island of East (Uist), I saw lying upon the shore, 
a cut of a large Firr tree, of about two and one- 
half feet in diameter, and nine or ten feet long; 
which had lain so long, that it was very dry; and 
most of the shells that had formerly covered it, 
were worn or rubbed off. Only on the parts that 
lay next the ground, there still hung multitude.'- 
of little shells ; having within them little bird s 
perfectly shaped. The shells hang at the tree, 
by a neck longer than the shell, of a kind of 
filmy substance, round, and hollow, and creased, 
not unlike the windpipe of a chicken ; spreading 
out broadest where it is attached to the tree, 
from which it seems to draw and convey the mat- 
ter, which serves for the growth and vegetation 
of the little shell and the Bird within it. ‘ Of 
the Bird ’ there appeared nothing wanting, as to 
the internal parts, for making up a perfect Sea 
fowl, every little part appearing so distinctly, 
that the whole looked like a large bird seen 
through a concave or diminishing glass ; color 
and features being everywhere so clear and neat.” 
The Lepas is enclosed in a shell containing five 
distinct pieces ; two large valves at the base, two 
smaller ones articulated to those near the point, 
the other uniting the four valves on the posterior 
edge. These are united by a tough membrane, 
which at the base is prolonged into a stem some 
times several inches in length. Through a nar- 
row opening in front of the valves are protruded 
twelve arms, six on either side, each arm having 
two feather-like fingers, the longest being at the 
top, and gradually decreasing in length toward 
the base ; at the bottom of these is placed the 
mouth. These animals undergo a real transform- 
ation, the young being able to swim freely 
about ; but when they become mature they at- 
tach themselves permanently to floating timber, 
live whales, crabs, etc. Frequently bottoms of 
ships, unless protected by copper, are covered so 
thickly with these animals as to greatly impede 
their progress through the water. Of this species 
we have many very fine specimens (alcoholic), 
some of which are eight inches long. Also of 
the Lithothrta rhodipus, a species having the 
power of boring holes in stones for its habitation. 
Gymnolepas cuvieri, is another interesting 
and peculiar species in 
this division, although its 
general form is very simi- 
lar to the Lepas. Its cov- 
ering, or mantle, is en- 
tirely different, being 
composed almost entirely 
of cartilage ; the shells 
being exceeding-ly small, 
and entirely enclosed 
within this cartilage in- 
teguuient. This species 
is one of the most curious 
of these pecular crusta- 
ceans. Of G. cuvieri, 
we have some very inter- 
esting specimens attached 
as represented in the cut to the coronula baiae- 
naris, which is a member of the sessile division. 
Of the sessile division, the typical species is 
Balanus psittacus, 
commonly known as 
the Acorn shell Bar- 
nacle. The unpedun- 
culated Barnacles are 
much more globular 
in form than those of 
the previous division. 
They are formed by 
plates of a triangular 
form, their number varying with tliespecie. The 
mouth of the Balanus is protected by an opercu- 
lum, consisting of two or more valves, which 
close it almost entirely. This species is one of 
the largest of the Barnacles, and is much relished 
by the natives of Chili, as food. It is found in 
great numbers usually on rocks, along the coast, 
and also on piers. We have specimens of this 
Balanus four inches long and containing the 
operculum. 
The CoronuTa balaenaris differs from the pre- 
ceding species, in being much shorter, as well as 
having a much larger opening at the mouth. 
This species is the one so frequently found upon 
the backs of whales and large sea turtles. We 
have recently received a number of very large and 
fine specimens from the Pacific coast, taken by 
whalers from backs of whales. EL L. Preston. 
Gymnolepas cuvieri on 
Coronula balaenaris 
Balanus psittacus. 
Vegetable Caterpillar. 
NEW ZEALAND. 
When Prof. Ward was in New Zealand, on the 
east coast of the North Island near the Bay of 
Plenty, he found a strange organism, half plant, 
half vegetable, called by the Maori natives “ Ho- 
tete” or “ Awahto,” and by the English settlers, 
Vegetable Caterpillars. He brought with him 
nearly a dozen of the specimens, one of which 
we have figured above as itnow appears and also 
as it was when alive, together with the insect 
which causes it. This insect is the Hepialm mr- 
eseens , or New Zealand Swift, a large moth, of 
well-marked but pale colors, and swift of flight. 
Its larva, a lusty grub of caterpillar form, and 
three or four inches long, called by the Maoris, 
“Mokuroa,” attacks with its horny teeth the 
purisi and other hardwood trees, upon whose 
bark it feeds. When arrived at maturity it leaves 
the tree and burries itself a few inches beneath 
the soil, there to assume its chrysalis form. 
But many individuals before they reach this 
stage are overtaken by a strange mischance. 
This is the advent of a fungus of the genus 
Sphoeria ( Sphoeria Robertsia), which affixes itself 
to the larva where its root portion grows rapidly, 
infringing gradually upon the fatty parts and 
tissues until at last the creature dies under the 
encroachment, and all its body is changed into, 
or replaced by the vegetable matter. The stem 
of the fungus has in the meantime sprung out of 
the back of its head, whence it grows — a whitish 
green shoot — to the length of four or six inches. 
It developes its flowers and spores at its upper 
extremity after the manner of other fungi. Our 
specimens are mostly dry— the Caterpillar with 
the fungus stem from its head. Two of the 
largest and finest, nearly a foot long, are in alco- 
hol. 
CORAL FRAGMENTS. 
Ten genera for one dollar. 
It frequently happens when unpacking coral 
that we find fragments broken off, which, though 
not of sufficient size for cabinet specimens, yet 
are often quite interesting and typical. There 
has of late been considerable demand for these, 
and to meet this we have made up a little series 
of ten genera, neatly labeled for $1.00. Add 15 
cents if the package is to go by mail. 
