320 Transactions. — Zoology. 



of its extent becomes elevated into a blunt point ; thence it con- 

 tinues as a much narrower ridge to the gills. The projecting 

 rhinophore-sheath has a circular aperture. The club of the 

 retracted rhinophore is 4 mm. high, is closely foliated, and 

 terminates in a small papilla. The branchial cone consists 

 of four converging lappets (5 mm. high) with rounded ends. 

 The deeply sunk gill is formed of six* tripinnate members, 

 7 mm. high, of which the two anterior are the larger. The 

 relatively thin anal papilla, which is 3 mm. high, is curved 

 forward, and subcentral in position. The retracted tentacle is 

 2 mm. high, short, finger-shaped with a groove on the under- 

 side. The foot is stout and broad, rounded in front, with a 

 marginal furrow ; the tail is relatively short. 



[Remarks (p. 41).] The animal here described appears really 

 to represent the Doris carinata of Quoy and Gaimard, which 

 since the expedition of the " Astrolabe " in 1828 has not been 

 met with. The French zoologists obtained the animal in New 

 Zealand [in the estuary of the Thames, Hauraki Gulf]. The size 

 (tres petite espece) of the individuals examined by them appears, 

 however, to have been very much less [than the specimens now 

 under consideration], the colour yellowish-white, and the number 

 of gills only four. 



[In view of the interest of this species I append figures of 

 a specimen, natural size, in side view and from below (see 

 Plate XVIII.).] 



Art. XXV.— Note on the Function of the Last Pair of Thoracic 

 Legs in the Whale- feed (Grimothea gregaria). 



By Chas. Chilton, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S., Professor of Biology, 



Canterbury College. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 30th November, 



1904.] 

 Plate XIX. 

 The whale-feed, Grimothea gregaria (Fabr.), which is so common 

 around the southern coasts of New Zealand at certain seasons 

 of the year, belongs to a division of the Crustacea generally 

 known as the Anomura, a group intermediate in many charac- 

 ters between the Brachyura (crabs) and the Macrura (crayfishes, 

 lobsters, &c). In the Anomura the thoracic legs of the fifth 

 pair are generally small and weak, and thus markedly different 

 from the preceding pairs of legs. In giving the characters of 



* In specimens in my possession I find the branchial cone to consist of 

 five lappets or valves, and the gUl consists of five members (Benham). 



