48 THE NAUTILUS. 



genera Lobiger and Lophocercits are then discussed. The anatomy 

 of Akera bullata and of a new Pacific species of Phyllaplysia is also 

 described. 



NOTE ON A NEAV ABYSSAL LIMPET. Under the name of 

 Bathysciadium conicum Dantzenberg and H. Fischer have described* 

 a new deep-water limpet which combines some curious characters. 

 The specimens are simply conical with radiating riblets and an al- 

 most membraneous shell, and have a diameter of 1.5 mm. and a 

 height of 0.9 mm. Some anatomical details are given by Dr. 

 Pelseneer in a note appended to the description. The animal was 

 obtained from the beak of a cuttlefish dredged by the Prince of 

 Monaco off the Azores in 843 fathoms. 



Like Lepeta it' is without eyes or ctenidia, the respiration being 

 carried on by the surface of the mantle. The muzzle appears to be 

 without lappets, the right tentacle has an appendix like that of 

 Cocculina (supposed to be a degenerate verge), there are no posterior 

 filaments ; an unpaired mandible and long radula are present, the 

 nervous system is that of the Docoglossa, and the otoliths are 

 single. 



Dr. Pelseneer regards the genital gland (otherwise strictly deco- 

 glossate) as hermaphrodite, a condition so exceptional, and, consider- 

 ing the minute size of the animal, so difficult to determine, that 

 judgment may fairly be suspended pending further confirmation of 

 it. The radula as figured leads to the belief -that except in the 

 absence of the rhachidian tooth (often degenerate in abyssal lim- 

 pets) the teeth are like those of Lepetella ; the major lateral being 

 broken into three pieces which have been taken for three separate 

 teeth by the author cited. If this suspicion be correct, the formula 

 is 1 + 2.0.2 + 1, for a transverse series of the radula. The creature 

 will be the first true limpet (Docoglossa) to show any trace of a 

 verge, and if really hermaphrodite, the first to exhibit this charac- 

 ter. The single otolith is very likely correlated with the small size 

 of the animal. The genus will stand next to Lepetella among the 

 Abranchiate Docoglossa WM. H. DALL, (Science, June 8). 



* Bull. Soc. Zooi. de France, xxiv., p. 207. 



