NUDIBRANCHIATA. 557 



Gen. Staurodoris Bergh^ 



This genus was established by Bergh for the Doris verrucosa which is common in the 

 MediteiTanean and is characterized by him as follows. The body is flat and tuberculate : 

 the retractile rhinophores and branchiae are protected by valve-like tubercles. The branchiae 

 are simply pinnate. There is no labial armature or median tooth : the radula consists of 

 numerous simply hamate teeth and the reproductive system is unarmed. If this definition 

 of the genus is rigidly adhered to, the form described below must be made a new genus, 

 as the rhinophores and branchiae are not protected by valves and the branchial opening is 

 crescent-shaped and very peculiar. Von Jhering however describes under the name of 

 Staurodoris pseudoverrncosa an animal obtained at Naples in which there were no valves 

 round the gill cavity^ It seems therefore simpler to somewhat enlarge the definition of 

 the genus than to create a new one. We may therefore characterize Staurodoris as belonging 

 to the large class of Dorids which have no labial armature or median tooth but a simply 

 hamate radula and as distinguished from the other genera by its tuberculate back and 

 simply pinnate branchiae. Perhaps to these characters may be added the shape of the 

 tentacles, which appear as two ridges above the mouths 



20. Staurodoris pecten nov. sp. 



Two specimens from N. Male Atoll, Maldives, 27 /. The animals are nearly round, the 

 larger specimen being 1'3 cm. by 1 cm., and flat. The dorsal integument is full of rod-like 

 spicules and studded with small conical warts or papillae, which are not connected or confluent. 

 The colour is quite uniform, in the one specimen yellowish-bro\vn, in the other faded yellow. 

 The foot is broad (1 cm. by 0'7 cm.) and slightly grooved in front, the upper lamina being 

 notched. The rhinophores emerge in the middle of a wart, but can hardly be said to be 

 protected by distinct valves. The gill opening is in the shape of a crescent, the horns 

 pointing anteriorlj-. The crescent itself acts as one large valve, but its lips are not pro- 

 tected by any special tubercles, and when it is closed and the branchiae completely withdrawn 

 it is hardly distinguishable from the rest of the dorsal surface. The branchiae are disposed 

 in three groups. The anterior one consists of a single simply pinnate leaflet : those to the 

 right and left consist each of six similar leaflets, united at the base so that they might 

 be regarded as bipinnate. The central nervous system is much concentrated and the com- 

 missures very short. The tentacles seem to be ridges above the mouth, very slightly grooved 

 externally. There is no labial armature. The radula consists of simply hamate teeth, not 

 denticulate, and uniform except that the innermost and outermost are somewhat smaller than 

 the rest. There is no central tooth. The reproductive system is unarmed. 



It is very doubtful whether this species should be regarded as a Staurodoris or the 

 tj^e of a new genus. Probablj' new forms belonging to this group will be discovered and 

 have to be distributed between the genera Staurodoris and Echinodoris. The latter though 

 strongly characterized externally by its greatly elongate papillae is really closely allied to 



' Bergh in .S'. B. Heft xiii. Supp. Heft i. and Supp. Heft ^ Since writing the above more than a year ago, I have 



II. and in Bull, of Miis. of Camp. Zool. Harvard, 1894, pp. examined in East Africa several forms referable or allied to 



160-2. Also von Jhering, Jahrbiiclter der Deutschen Maluk. Staurodoris, which may necessitate a further modification of 



Gesellschaft, 1886, Heft ni. pp. 230 — 233. this definition. I postpone the discussion of their affinities 



- It had the further peculiarity of having bipinnate gills. to another paper. 



