DESCRIPTIONS of NEW and NOTES on OTHER 

 AUSTRALIAN POLYPLACOPHORA. 



P>y C. Hedlky, Conchologist, and A. F. Basset Hull. 



(Plates lxxiii.-lxxiv.) 



Lepidopleukus badius, sp. nov. 



(Plate lxxiii., tigs. 1-2.) 



Shell small, broad in proportion to length, rather low, rounded 

 dorsally. Sculpture uniformly grain-striate. Colour entirely 

 ochraceous, the valve margin sometimes rust. 



Anterior valve densely radially grained. 



Median valves narrow with a straight posterior edge, central 

 and jugal areas confluent, lateral areas indistinctly indicated by 

 a slight fold. About fifty grain-rows to a valve, medially about 

 a dozen grains are close set in a row, but wider apart from row 

 to row, the rows longitudinal in the middle, converging at the 

 sides, and losing their regularity on the lateral areas. 



Posterior valve with ceutral elevated apex and concave 

 posterior slope. 



Girdle beset with small chaffy scales, fringed with spicules. 



Interior white, sutural plates rounded, jugal sinus very broad 

 and shallow. Insertion plates entirely absent. Length, 6 ; 

 breadth, 3 - 5 mm. 



Station. — Under stones in sheltered pools at low water. 



Habitat. — Balmorai and Shark Island (Port Jackson) ; Long 

 Reef near Narrabeen. Though a rare shell, fifteen specimens 

 were found under one small stone at Long Reef. The body of 

 the animal is of a deep red colour. 



Affinities. — Related to L. matthewsianus, Bednall, 1 from St. 

 Vincent Gulf, South Australia, but distinguished by the darker 

 colour, broader shape and coarser granules of L. badius, and 

 especially by the direction of the grain-rows on the lateral areas. 

 In L. matthewsianus the rows are oblique to those of the 

 central area, but in L. badius they are confused. In L. mailhew- 

 sianus the apex of the posterior valve is nearer the margin. 



A more distant relation is the New Zealand L. inquinatus, 

 Reeve, 2 in which the lateral areas are differentiated by small 

 crowded grains set in rows oblique to those of the central area. 



i Bednall -Proc. Malacol. Soc, vii., 1906, p. 92, pi. ix., f. 1. 

 - Sykes — Proe. Malacol. Soc, ii., 1896, p. S6., pi. vi., f. 4. 



