560 SIR CHARLES ELIOT. 



22. D. nigra Stimpson, var. nigerrima B. 



Three specimens from the Maldives, Mulaku Atoll 40 /., and Mahlus Atoll 20 /. The 

 largest is 1"7 cms. long and '8 cm. broad. The colour is a deep bluish-black ; the foot, 

 especially the margin, is somewhat lighter and on the back are some incon.spicuous spots 

 of bluish-gi-ey, looking as if the black pigment had been rubbed off. But there are no 

 signs of white spots, a coloured border or of white on the rhinophores or gills. The latter 

 are six and tripinnate. The internal organs are as usual, but even here the black tint 

 prevails. 



This species shows great variety of coloration and in my experience the pure black 

 form is the rarest. At Zanzibar I have found in considerable abundance (1) a black form 

 with large white spots and no border, (2) a purplish form with numerous small spots and 

 a border of the same colour but lighter, (3) a black form with or without white spots and 

 with a bright red border, (4) a greyish-white form without markings ; found in the company 

 of (3) and apparently differing only in coloration. 



23. D. apicalisl B. 



One specimen from the Suvadiva Atoll, Maldives, 42/. Length 5"4 cm., breadth across 

 the rhinophores I'l cm., across the gills 2"3 cm. The form is thus unusually long and 

 tapering. The back is smooth and the mantle edge narrow. The colour uniform dirty grey 

 with some whitish mottlings on the back but no dark spots or markings. Foot, dirty yellow, 

 smaller before than behind. Rhinophores small, straight with about 20 perfoliations. Gills 

 six, tripinnate. The blood-gland appears to be double and the intestine gives off a small 

 diverticulum near the pylorus. This last character and the elongate tapering shape of the 

 animal incline me to identify it with D. apicalis B., recorded from Amboina. But the colour 

 is not quite the same, the shape is not peculiar to this species but found elsewhere {e.g. in 

 D. vidua) and it remains to be seen whether the diverticulum is a consistent specific character. 



Fam. Phyllidiadae'. 



The genus Phyllidia was created by Cuvier and Frijeria by Gray. Our knowledge of 

 the group is however mainly due to the writings of Bergh^ The members of the family 

 are perhaps the most easily recognizable of Nudibranchs and can at once be identified by 

 their curious leathery consistency and the brightly coloured lumps or ridges which usually 

 •adorn their dorsal surface. They may be more accurately characterized as follows: 



The texture of the animals is coriaceous and the form flattish, elongate oval. The 

 margin of the mantle covers the foot all round, though the latter is fairly broad. There 

 is no distinct head but merely a minute oral pore beneath two small digitate tentacles 

 which are united at the base so as to form a rudimentary veil, and are slightly furrowed 

 on the outer side. Seen from above, the shape of the anterior and posterior extremities is 

 much the same. The dorsal surface bears tubercles or ridges, which are generally brightly 



' Bergh: (1) " Bidr. til en Monogi-. af Pbyllidierne," (i) Neue Beitrfige zurKenntnissder Plii/lHiliaden,Wien, 



Naturhist. Tidsskr. 3 R. 1869. 1876 (aus den Verhandl. der k. k. zootogisch-botanisclien 



(2) " Neue Nacktsoh. der Sudsee," Journal des Mus. Geselhchaft in Wien hesonders abgedruckt). 



■Godeffroy, Heft ii. 1873. (5) Die Nudihratichiata holohepaticaPorostoniata,V/iea, 



(3) Malacol. Untersuch. in Semper's Reisen, Heft x. 1892 (do. do.). 

 1876, Heft XVI. 1889 and Heft xvii. 1890. 



