SPONGES, HYDROZOA AND POLYZOA OF 
SEISTAN. 
By N. ANNANDALE, D.Sc., F.A.S.B., Director, Zoological 
Survey of India. 
(Plate XXII). 
Specimens of eight species of the groups discussed in this 
paper were collected in Seistan—three sponges, one Hydrozoon, 
and four Polyzoa. While the sponges and the Hydrozoon are 
widely-distributed species, all of which also occur within the 
limits of the Indian Empire, two of the four Polyzoa are new to 
science, though related to Indian species; one of the other two is 
characteristically Indian and Eastern Asiatic, the other cosmo- 
politan as a species. 
The three sponges are Spongilla alba, Spongilla cartert and 
Ephydatia fluviatilis. The range of the first extends from Egypt 
to Bengal, of the second from Hungary to Mauritius and the Malay 
Archipelago, while the third is cosmopolitan in non-tropical coun- 
tries. The specimens of S. alba are sufficiently distinct to be 
made the types of a new variety; of S. cartert only gemmules, 
which do not differ from those of Indian sponges, were obtained ; 
but the Ephydatia, while differing in certain respects from Euro- 
pean forms, is not definitely enough different for nominal distinc- 
tion. It is, however, quite distinct from the two Indian varieties 
or races, himalayensis from the Western Himalayas (which should 
perhaps be united with syriaca, Topsent) and intha from the Shan 
States of Burma. 
The Hydrozoon is Hydra vulgaris, a cosmopolitan species not 
uncommon in India, 
The four Polyzoa are somewhat remarkable forms. They are 
Fredericella sultana var. jordanica, Plumatella (Afrindella) persica, 
sp. nov., Plumatella (Hyalinella) bigemmis, sp. nov. and Lopho- 
podella cartert. The Fredericella is a race of a cosmopolitan 
species the known range of which includes the Volga and Jordan 
systems; one Plumatella is closely related to a Gangetic species 
(P. testudinicola) associated, unlike its Persian relative, with fresh- 
water tortoises; the other differs from the cosmopolitan P. punc- 
tata in one important structural and physiological character, while 
the Lophopodella is a characteristic Indian species with a local 
race in China and Japan and related to Tropical African forms. 
The representatives in Seistan of the three groups have, 
therefore, mixed geographical relationships, partly Indian, partly 
