NoTT. — On N.Z. Coviposite Ascidlans. 



331 



the upper test-layers. In any case, many ova probably escape 

 through the cloacal cavities simply as fertilised ova if they pass 

 into the peribranchial cavity prior to fertilisation. Those 

 which thus escape may found new colonies. But many do not 

 escape, burying themselves in the common test, where they 

 undergo their development and metamorphosis. 



Up to the present time only one species of New Zealand 

 Composite x-^scidian has to my knowledge been classified. This 

 is Botryllus racemosus, from the moutli of the Thames Eiver, 

 catalogued by Hutton in his " Manual of the New Zealand 

 Mollusca" (1879), along with two species of the genus Pijro- 

 soma. These fragmentary observations of mine, deficient as 

 they may possibly prove, are yet of interest in demonstrating 

 the probable richness of our colonial waters in representatives 

 of a section of the world's fauna so interesting as the Tunicata, 

 and, though feeling conscious of much that is lacking in my 

 account, I have no hesitation in offering it as the first fruits of 

 what must ever be to me a deeply-absorbing life-work— the 

 contributing somewhat to a fuller knowledge of Nature's mar- 

 vellous handiwork. 



