723 



ON A NEW ISOPODAX GENUS (FAMILY ONISCIDAE) 

 FROM LAKE COEANGAMITE, VICTORIA. 



By Oh as. Chilton, M.A., D.Sc, LL.D., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., 

 Professor of Biology, Canterbury College, New Zealand. 



(With twenty Text-figures.) 



In 1918 I received from Professor W. A. Haswell, of Syd- 

 ney, a single specimen of an Isopod that had heen collected in 

 Lake Corangamite, Victoria, by Mr. J. Searle, of Melbourne. 

 Examination showed that the Isopod could not be placed under 

 any of the genera known to me and that a full examination of 

 the species was desirable. On my inquiring for further speci- 

 mens, Mr. Searle very kindly sent on the whole of the re- 

 maining animals, eight in number, which he had collected. 

 They had been gathered during an excursion to Lake Coranga- 

 mite and district in March and April. 1918, and the circum- 

 stances under which they were found are described by Mr. 

 Searle as follows : — 



■•Another interesting 'find' in this lake was an Isopod, cer- 

 tainly undescribed for Victoria, and probably new to science. 

 Its capture was the result of inductive reasoning. Along the 

 lake shore and in the shallow water Dottrel were observed. As 

 the netting operations captured nothing larger than Copepoda, 

 and the algae on the rocks sheltered Ostracoda and the little uni- 

 valve mollusc Codetta striatula, curiosity was aroused as to 

 what the Dottrell found to eat. Selecting a rock on the shore 

 where one could kneel without getting unduly wet. the muddy 

 bottom of the lake was scrutinised for any appearance of living 

 creatures. Finally our patience was rewarded by observing a 

 movement just under the surface of the fine silt, and the quick 

 insertion of the fingers resulted in the capture of an Isopod. 

 Twenty minutes' close search was rewarded by the capture of 

 eight or ten specimens. When next there is an opportunity of 

 visiting this lake, apparatus will be taken for the special inves- 



