1 68 The Irish NaiiDalisl. August 



o' 



gave a second upisthobranch new tu the coasts of Dublin 

 and of Kast Ireland, Lhnapoiitla /lii^ra, of which eight speci- 

 mens were secured. So far as I can discover this species 

 was previously known as Irish only from Valentia Harbour, 

 where it was discovered b}' Mr. F. W. Gamble in 1895 (/;-. Nai., 

 1896, p. 132). The Bullock specimens were all found attached 

 to the stiff, dull green, capillary sea-weed, Cladophora nipcstrh, 

 tufts of which were gathered from the edges of rather stagnant 

 pools at about half tide. The largest specimen was 4.5 mm. 

 long in motion. Five living specimens of Trochus Jicliciiius 

 were gathered on the same ground. 



Mau}^ of the I^imapontias gathered on this day continued to 

 live with me in watch-glasses of sea-water up to the i6th May. 

 One deposited an egg-cluster on the 8th, tw^o other clusters 

 were deposited on the 13th, and a fourth on the 15th. The 

 form of the egg-cluster was different from the usual ribbon of 

 the nudibranchs. It consisted of a slighth- ctirved, elongated^ 

 pear-shaped mass of yellow ova surrounded by a transparent 

 and colotirless envelope of the same shape. 



May 1 6th. — Another gathering of Cladophora at Bullock 

 yielded no less than thirtj'-two vSpecimens of I^imapontia and 

 from the same pool, apparently amongst coralline, were taken 

 twenty specimens of Runcina. Several of the Limapontias 

 were kept alive up to the 29th Ma}-, and many egg-masses 

 were laid. On the 2Sth and 29th the contents of several of the 

 ova were observed to be in rapid motion. 



While Limapontia was thus seen to deposit its egg-clusters 

 very freeh' — in some cases branches of Cladophora enclosed 

 with the living specimens were found after a few days to be 

 studded all over with clinging egg-cltisters — yet Runcina 

 spawned very rarely indeed, although many individuals 

 remained living with me for nearl}^ three weeks. Va3'ssiere, 

 in his elaborate paper on Pelta and Tylodina,^ which 

 genera he had studied in the zoological laboratory at Marseilles, 

 states that he had never seen an}' of his Runcinas deposit eggs. 

 I was fortunate enotigh to see one of my specimens deposit its 

 eggs on the ist June last, more than a fortnight after its 

 capttire. On that da}- the animal was observed to be 



■• Recherches anatouiiques sur les Genres Pelta (Runcina) et Tylodina. 

 AiDi. des Sci. NattircUes. xv., p. i, 1S83. 



