124 DR. CUTHBERT COLLING-WOOD ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF 



abundant in the open ocean of the Atlantic, but always adherent by its clasping foot to 

 the fronds of the gulf-weed. 



Nor do the exquisite colours of this group depend entirely upon geographical position. 

 On our own northerly coasts richly tinted species occur, such as Doris flammea, D. coc- 

 cmea, and many brilliant species of Eolis, &c. ; while Doris sordida is a Red-Sea species, 

 D. tristis is from the Madras coast, and D. exanthema from Ceylon ; and the same 

 remark also applies equally to other genera and families. Nevertheless, as a rule, the 

 more brightly coloured species are more commonly met with on tropical shores ; and of 

 the genus Ghromodoris, remarkable for their brilliancy, no species are found upon our 

 own shores, but, although some occur on the Mediterranean coasts, the majority are 

 characteristic of the hotter regions. 



A very remarkable eiicunistance in the history of these delicate animals is their 

 extraordinary geographical distribution. Mr. Abraham remarks {I.e. jwstea) that the 

 well-known and almost first-described British species, Doris tuberculata, has also been 

 found in New Zealand on the one hand, and at Vancouver's Island on the other ; and 

 my own experience has remarkably confirmed the widespread habitats of certain species. 

 Interesting in this respect was the fact of my meeting with the same species, within a 

 few days' or weeks' interval, on different sides of the China Sea. Thus a Chromodoris 

 which I had already found in the Pescadores was the first thing I picked up, some time 

 later, on the reef of Labuan (Borneo). Veiy soon after I met with a second species at 

 Labuan, which I at once recognized as one I had already captured and figured in the 

 Haitan Straits, a little south of the river Min, coast of China. A Doris which I found 

 on a submerged reef in the centre of the China Sea, I afterwards found again on another 

 island off the coast of Borneo, west of Sarawak river. A minute species also (probably 

 an immature Trevelycma) I found on two occasions in localities separated by 150 miles 

 of sea. 



A circumstance due, I think, to what I have already mentioned about seasonal changes 

 is worth recording. I had searched in vain upon some rocks in the harbour of Hong Kong, 

 and having mentioned this to a resident gentleman, who occasionally himself made the 

 same researches, he kindly offered to go with me and show me where he found them. 

 But we were equally unsuccessful, and could obtain none. The same thing occurred at 

 Labuan. Having showed my drawings to a gentleman interested in natural history, he 

 at once recognized them as animals of which he assured me there were many beautiful 

 species to be found ; and he also kindly conducted me to his hunting-ground, but equally 

 in vain, and to his surprise he could show me none where he had been in the habit of 

 finding them. In fact, although I met at Labuan with species I had already found 

 elsewhere, I only added one new species to my list at that place. In both these instances 

 I imagine I was at the localities mentioned at unfavourable seasons of the year, and not 

 at those seasons when my informants assured me they had met with numerous species. 



I should mention, however, one other Labuan species which unfortunately I was 

 unable to record, owing to the following curious circumstance. It was a large tuber- 

 culated Doris, of a mottled grey colour, l< inches long, with capacious tentacles and 

 expansive gill-tufts, of which I found two or three specimens upon a reef in one of these 



