J""^' 1 Chapman , Some Sepias New or LitUe Known. zx 



1912 J ' ' J 



NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SOME SEPIAS NEW 

 OR LITTLE KNOWN TO THE VICTORIAN COAST. 



By F. Chapman, A.L.S., Palceontologist National Museum. 



(With Plate.) 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, ii,th May, 191 2.) 



Whilst on a visit at Easter, 1903, to Torquay (distant about 

 15 miles south-westerly from Port Phillip Heads), I was par- 

 ticularly struck with the enormous number of sej^iostaires of 

 the common cuttle-fish, Sepia apauia, (iray, which had been 

 thrown upon the beach, particularly in the neighbourhood of 

 Spring Creek. .A.mongst these were some other s]:)ecies, nearly 

 equally abundant, which I ha\'e since identified as 5. braggi, 

 Verco, S. capensis. D'Orbigny, and S. latliiuiiiiis, Ouoy and 

 Gaimard. ^lany scores of the delicate little cuttle-bones of 

 S. braggi could have been gathered from among the grass at 

 the foot of the dunes, whilst 5. capensis and S. latimamis were 

 equally common along the high-tide marks. 



On several subsequent visits to Torquay 1 noticed an almost 

 entire absence of the three s})ecies last named, although 5. apaina 

 was generally to be found, in a more or less fragmentary con- 

 dition. At Easter of this year, however, both Mr. C. J. Gal)riel 

 and I witnessed, within a week of each other, the same exce])- 

 tional abundance of cuttle-bones of the several species, which 

 seemed to be due to a previous spell of rough weather. 



Sefia bkaggi, Verco. — In 1907 * Dr. J. C. \'erco described 

 a new and elegant little s})ecies of Sepia from (ilenelg. South 

 Australia, which he named S. hraggi. As Dr. Verco i)ointed 

 out, it seems to be allied to S. dongata, Ferussac and D'Orbigny, f 

 but is narrower posteriorly, and curved at the mucronate end 

 for a greater length. Its closest related form appears to be 

 5. andreana, Steenstruj), which is a Japanese species, having 

 a sepiostaire with a blunter ami more rounded anterior, 

 although, from the figure given in Tryon's " Manual of Con- 

 chology " J the forward curvature of the mucronate end is not 

 a distinctive feature. 



Altogether, 5. braggi seems to be a rare or occasional form, 

 since it has only been noticed elsewhere in South Australia 

 by Mr. Zietz. In the paj^er above mentioned Dr. Verco also 

 remarked that Mr. Hcdley had it from Victoria. The latter 

 record was subsequently i)ublished as from the Heytesbury 

 coast, Victoria (s|)ecimen presented to the Australian Museum 

 by Dr. d. H. Pritchard), as well as from the Maroubra Beach, 



* Trims. Rt)y. Snc. S. Austr.. \ol. xx.xi., ji. Ji^ 1>1. x.wii.. lijjs. <>. 

 <tn-d. 



t Hist. Nat. (x-pli.. 1835-1848, p. jS^^, pi. x.\i\., lij^s. 7-10. 

 J \\)1. 1. (i.'^;*;), pi. .\c., li^^. 4(19. 



