282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.43. 



comis auctor. (pars)," ^ but he identified the specimen with Couch's 

 C. cervicomis, which is Porella co7npressa. 



The name surcularis given by Packard is therefore the oldest name 

 of unquestioned validity and should stand as the name of the species. 

 In naming the species Packard was aware that he was dealing with 

 this common northern species of wide distribution for he states 

 expressly that ''European authors have confounded this arctic species 

 with Cellepora cervicomis of the Mediterranean Sea." 



LEPRALIA SPATHULIFERA Smitt. 



Plate 34, figs. 2, 2a, and 26. 



Locality. — St. Pierre Bank, Newfoundland, three young colonies on 

 the inside of a valve of Pecten tenuicostata. 



This is a very striking species among the Lepralias on account of 

 the spatulate spine situated on the midline of the front wall just 

 behind the aperture. The species has been much misunderstood 

 and has consequently been shifted about. Waters (1900, p. 87) 

 placed it in the genus Microjwrella under the mistaken notion that 

 it possessed a tubular median pore. Anderson (1902, p. 542) replaced 

 it in Lepralia on the ground that ''Bei den von mir untersuchten 

 Colonien konnte ich niemals einen Porus beobachten." Norman 

 (1903, p. 106) erected a new genus for it, characterized especially by 

 the presence of a median pore behind the spatulate spine. 



The small colonies collected by Doctor Bryant are in excellent 

 condition for study, and there can be no doubt whatever that there 

 is no median pore at all. Instead a small avicularium occupies the 

 position of the supposed "pore" of Norman and Waters. The 

 avicularium is raised upon a projection of the cell, and is minute but 

 quite distinct. It is easy to understand how the loss of the avicu- 

 larium in older stages might have caused the misconception of the 

 relationships of the species. The spatulate frontal spine as well as 

 the oral spines vary remarkably in size and form. 



LEPRALIA mPPOPUS Smitt. 



Locality. — Shoal Tickle, Labrador, one well-developed colony on a 

 pebble. 



MUCRONELLA SPINULIFERA Hincks. 



Mucronella spinulifera Hincks, 1889, p. 431. 



Monoporella spinulifera Hincks, 1892, p. 152. — Whiteaves, 1901, p. 108. 



Locality. — Shoal Tickle, Labrador, one well-developed colony on a 

 pebble. 



Hincks, in his original description placed this species in the genus 

 Mucronella but later ^ changed it over to Monoporella. All more 

 recent writers have replaced it in Mucronella. After a careful study 

 of the above specimen the present writer accepts this view. 



1 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, vol. 18, p. 32. ^ See Synonomy. 



