92 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vo XVIII, 
therefore, evidence for the existence of a tropical element in the 
aquatic invertebrate fauna of that country. 
Key to the species of the subgenus Afrindella. 
A. Zoaria forming a single layer. 
1. Ectocyst smooth ; zooecia regular in growth, 
with a strong continuous keel ; statoblasts 
(free) elongate .. Plumatella philippinensis. 
2. Ectocyst obscurely annulate, densely covered 
with minute sand-grains ; zooecia with- 
out keel; statoblasts (fixed) broad, vari- 
able in shape... “a ... P. testudinicola. 
3. Ectocyst rough, irregularly annulate on the 
distal region; proximal region of zooe- 
cium strongly keeled; statoblasts (free 
and fixed) moderately elongate ... P. tanganytkae. 
B. Zoarium in two layers, in the lower of which 
fixed, in the upper free statoblasts are 
produced. 
Ectocyst more or less irregular; zooecia 
without keel ; statoblasts (free and fixed) 
elongate ae Ay nee 70. PEVSUGH. 
Piumatella (Afrindella) persica, sp. nov. 
This species closely resembles the Gangetic Plumatella testu- 
dinicola' in structure, but is differentiated (apart from the method 
of growth) by the possession of free as well as fixed statoblasts and 
by the more elongate form of the latter. 
The specimens examined consist of rather dense growths on the 
woody roots and stems of water-plants which were in a condition 
of rest in winter. Each growth is separated quite definitely into 
two layers. Most of the zooecia of the outer layer are degenerate 
but some still contain polypides, while all except the youngest are 
packed with free gemmules. Those of the lower layer are filled 
with fixed statoblasts arranged in single longitudinal rows. The 
zoarium is everywhere too congested to reveal its precise method 
of growth, but even round the margins of the colony, where the 
youngest zooecia occur, the two layers are distinct and the lower 
zooecia contain fixed statoblasts. In this part of the zoarium 
the zooecia are arranged roughly in parallel lines and it is clear 
that the system of budding was that of a terminal and a latero- 
terminal bud being given off almost simultaneously by each termi- 
nal zooecium, and that owing to the congested state of the colony 
the latero-terminal buds have been closly adpressed to the terminal 
ones. ‘The zooecia lie practically flat, all orientated in one direc- 
tion and each with its orifice opening almost horizontally. The 
base of the buds being somewhat flattened and issuing from the 
lower part of the parent zooecium permits the latter to open in 
this way. When the polypides expand they doubtless bend up- 
wards, which the softness and laxness of the distal part of the 
zooecia would readily permit them to do. The zooecia are nearly 
cylindrical but flattened on the attached surface. They are about 
1 Annandale, Rec. Jnd. Mus. VII, p. 148, pl. xin (1912). 
