I would primarily be concerned with air leakage between the back side or underside of the carb and the engine. But, some engines need the air filter on it to run without the choke on or it runs too lean. since you said it is feeding gas and it is gravity fed, then focus on the air side.
I looked on the cub site but could not find an XT1 with a SV541 engine. they all had twin cylinder engines. I may be looking at the wrong equipment. When I googled the SV541 (this was for a MTD so it could be different) it shows as a single cylinder and it showed a fuel pump and an optional carb spacer (yours may not have this or the pump) from the drawing it looks like there is a carb, then a gasket, then a shroud, then another gasket then the cylinder head. that gasket between the shroud and the head may have fallen down.
I circled what I think you have in Red, the optional stack up is in blue and the fuel pump which you dont on yours is in fuchia
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