IX.— FURTHER NOTE ON A POLYZOON 

 FROIM THE HIMALAYAS. 



By N. Annandale, D.Sc, Officiating Superintendent , 

 Indian Museum. 



In a recent note on the Indian freshwater Polyzoa (Journ. 

 Asiat. Soc. Bengal, IQ07, p. 92) I referred specimens from 

 Kumaon to Ridley's Lophopus ledenfeldi, basing my diagnosis 

 chiefly on the form of the statoblast. Having recently had 

 occasion to re-examine a collection of debris from the surface 

 of the lake (Bhim Tal) in which the specimens were taken, I have 

 found several statoblasts which evidently belong to the same 

 species but differ in a remarkable manner from those already 

 described, showing close affinities to Hyatt's Pectinatella carteri. 

 As intermediate forms occur I see no reason to change my 

 opinion as regards the specific or generic identity of the Hima- 

 layan species, but it will be as well to give a more detailed des- 

 cription in order to avoid possible confusion in the future. 



The Polyzoon occurred in small, transparent patches on the 

 leaves and stems of water-plants, the colonies being easily detached 

 from their support and probably having the power of chang- 

 ing their position. The ectocyst had all the characters of that of 

 Lophopus, being swollen and hyaline, filling up the spaces be- 

 tween the cavities in which the polypides are placed, and com- 

 pletely investing the whole colony. Its external layer consisted of 

 " star-shaped " and circular cells closely resembling those figured 

 by Ridley {Journ. Linn. Soc, ZooL, xx, pi. 2). Similar cells occur 

 in L. crystallinus, the smaller kind being in both species rather 

 sub-rectangular than " star-shaped," but having the corners more 

 or less definitely produced and the shorter extremities irregularly 

 sinuate. The polypides were arranged on one or both sides of a 

 single longitudinal axis, the colony being as a rule much longer 

 than broad ; but probably the regularity of this arrangement 

 disappears in older colonies. When the polypides were retracted 

 the external surface of the colony was smooth but slightly 

 lobate. The tentacles were relatively very long ; in a specimen 

 preserved in formol the longest measured i'3 mm. by 0"03 mm. ; 

 they generally numbered about thirty but were sometimes fewer. 

 The stomach was of a bright yellow colour and was rounded at 

 its inferior extremity. The polypides were small, as also were the 

 colonies ; the latter measured about 3 — 5 mm. in length, 2 — 3 mm. 



