AUSTRALIAN P0LYPLAC0PH0RA — HEDLBY AND HULL. 263 



Chiton translucens, sp. nov. 



(Plate lxxiv., figs. 14-18.) 



Shell large, oblong, elevated, carinated, side slopes straight. 

 Colour buff clouded with olive and sage-green and microscopi- 

 cally freckled with rufous, in some specimens shaded with orange- 

 red on the lateral areas. Under the lens the whole surface finely 

 granulated in quincunx. The general smoothness of the valves 

 is only interrupted by a few impressed growth lines. 



Posterior valve : mucro median, subprominent. 



Median valves : lateral areas raised, the remoter pleural areas 

 crossed by half-a-dozen vestigial furrows, in and about which are 

 a few scattered eyes. 



Girdle olive-green, alternately lighter and darker, narrowly 

 edged with magenta, covered with small, finely striated, oval, 

 polished, and densely subimbricate scales. 



Interior flesh tint passing into green, sinus narrow, deep, 

 denticulate. Anterior valve having 8, median valves 1-1, pos- 

 terior valve 10 slits ; teeth deeply irregularly pectinated on the 

 edge and outside. 



Specimen figured ; 3S mm. long by 21 mm. broad. 



Station. — Under stones in 3-5 feet of water at dead low tide. 



Habitat. — Bottle and Glass Point, Vaucluse, Port Jackson ; 

 Caloundra, Queensland. 



Remarks. — Two specimens of this shell were found by Mr. 

 John Brazier at the Bottle and Glass Point in 1864, one of 

 which was sent to the British Museum, and the other is now in 

 the Australian Museum. It was not, so far as we can ascertain, 

 previously described. Recently Dr. W. G. Torr, of Adelaide, 

 forwarded a specimen for identification, labelled "Vaucluse," and 

 several expeditions to that locality resulted in a fair number of 

 specimens in all stages of growth being found. When alive, this 

 shell is of a beautiful translucent green ; it is very clean, being 

 apparently of a nomadic disposition, and therefore less exposed 

 to the attacks of parasites, it prefers very smooth surfaces, and 

 shows a marked partiality for the undersides of sunken glass 

 bottles. Two young specimens have recently been taken by Mr. 

 Tom Iredale at Caloundra, Queensland. 



