120 CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



peculiar processes on the cell wall and that on the operculum give it a distinctive 

 character. 



Lepralia turrita, Smitt (26). 



The fresher looking colonies of this species are pink in colour and have pointed 

 tubercles round the margin of the orifice ; with age they become white and the 

 tubercles worn down into blunt knobs. There are large spatulate avicularia on the 

 sides of large massive tubercles and small oval ones on more slender tubercles, and 

 also scattered over the zocecia. 



There are very few ocecia, and I have not been able to see perforations on them. 

 They have a semicircular, marked area in front. 



Localities: Gulf of Manaar ; Station XL., 10 miles off Galle, 34 fathoms; Nava- 

 kaddu Paar. 



Lepralia multidentata, n. sp. Plate, fig. 9. 



Zoarium incrusting, white. Zooecia very small, rotund, irregularly placed, usually 

 lying flat, but occasionally standing upright, surface roughened. Orifice arched 

 above, sides widening downwards, base slightly convex, six long slender spines on the 

 upper margin and a long, pointed rostrum below. Sometimes avicularia with rounded 

 mandibles are present on either side of the orifice. Ooecia granular above, smooth in 

 front, with au arched rib between the rough and the smooth portions. 



Localities : Gulf of Manaar ; and off Trincomalee. 



Lepralia cucullata, Busk (2). 



Localities : Cheval Paar, Navakaddu Paar and elsewhere in Gulf of Manaar 

 (common on Ascidians and pearl oyster shells). 



Lepralia depressa, Busk (2). 



Avicularia in various forms, long and seta-like, or thick and spear-like, or the 

 mandible branched, looking like the leg and foot of a bird. 

 Localities : Gulf of Manaar and off Galle. 



Lepralia gigas, Hincks (10). 



Localities: Station LILT., north of Cheval Paar, 7 to 10 fathoms; Palk Bay; 

 Trincomalee (many large colonies, up to 3 inches across) ; Welligam Bay ; and 

 various parts of Gulf of Manaar (growing on pearl oyster shells). 



Lepralia purpurea, n. sp. Plate, fig. 13. 



Zoarium forming purplish grey patches, incrusting. Zocecia small with thick walls, 

 sub-immersed, diamond-shaped, occasionally heaped and upright, smooth and shining 

 or slightly roughened. Orifice arched above, widening downwards, with an almost 

 straight lower lip, peristome slightly thickened with five marginal spines and a sub- 



