LOPflOPUS BIUSBANEN8IS. SP. NOV. 



By W. R. Colledge. 

 (With one plate). 



( Bead before the Royal Society of Queensland , 2dth October, 



1917). 



The only species of Lophopus recorded from Australia 

 appears to be L. lendenfeldi Ridley found in the Parramatta 

 River, N.S.W. I have found in Brisbane some very large 

 beautiful colonies bearing a resemblance to the Mell-known 

 " plumed polype " of Trembley, Lophopus crystallinus. 

 They differ, however, from that species and also from 

 L. lendenfeldi in important points, so that we have pre- 

 sumably a new species. 



It is found in freshwater creeks, on the under side of 

 water-logged timber and on the naked roots of trees beneath 

 the surface of the water. When lifted out it appears as 

 little masses of greenish jelly. The form of the zooids is 

 similar to the European species. The polypes of the 

 Brisbane form, however, are larger, and while half a dozen 

 of the old world species occupy one sac, as many as thirty 

 are found within the same cover here. 



In the European colony and also in L. lendenfeldi, a 

 thin transparent membrane envelopes each colony and forms 

 a disc of attachment to its substratum. This I have not 

 observed, but when a colony is torn away from its resting 

 place a thin membrane is seen to be the means of attach- 

 ment ; this does not spread around the colony as is repre- 

 sented in the illustrations of the two forms I refer to. 



Another important difference from the European 

 species is in the absence of the epistome — I do not find 

 any trace of it in our species, nor has it been observed in 

 L. lendenfeldi. 



