84 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



REPORT ON A COLLECTION OF POLYPLACOPHORA FROM PORT 

 PHILLIP, VICTORIA. 



By E. R. Sykes, B.A., F.Z.S., etc. 



Read IWi March, 1896. 



PLATE VI. 



The very interestins; collection to wliicli the following pages refer 

 was formed by Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson,^ M.A., P.L.S., and placed 

 in my hands by the Port Phillip Exploration Committee of the lloyal 

 Society of Victoria. 



One fact brought out strikingly by a study of this collection is 

 how little we yet know of the fauna of the Australian seas, so far 

 as relates to the present group. Of twenty-two species, no less than 

 seven were, when collected, new or undescribed. Five of these are 

 described in the present paper; one has recently (December, 1895) 

 been described by Mr. Pilsbry; and the other will, 1 understand, 

 shortly appear under the name of Ischnochiton Tateanus, Bednall. 



To Mr. Filsbry, who has in so special a manner made the group his 

 own, I desire to tender my most grateful thanks for the invaluable 

 assistance he has rendered me in the elucidation of difficult points. 



The first question which arises is the determination of the correct 

 name for the Order in which these molluscs are placed. In my opinion 

 this should be Polyplacophora, Gray. The references which it is 

 necessary to mention are as follows : — 



1816. Polyplaxiphores, Blainville : Bull. Soc. Pliilom. Paris, p. 122. 

 1821. Polyplacophora, Gray: London Medical liepository, vol. xv, 

 p. 2^4. 



1824. Pohjplaxiphora, Blainville : Diet. Sci. !Nat., Article " Mol- 



lusques," vol. xxxii, p. 380. 



1825. Pohjplaxi2)hora,V>\i\.m\\\\c;: Manuel de Malacologie, p. 601. 

 1829. Polyplahipltora, Guilding: Zool. Journ., vol. v, No. 17, p. 25. 

 1879. Pohjplaciphora, Dall : Scient. Results of Expl. of Alaska, 



p. 83. 

 1886. Poli/placoplwra, B-addon : Zoology of H.M.S. "Challenger," 



part xliii. 

 1892-4. Polyplacophora, Pilsbry : Man. Conch., ser. i, vols, xiv-xv. 



Blainville's original publication contained no definition of the 

 group, and he only used the French word. Gray defined the group, 

 and he also used the Latin termination ; but, curiously enough, he 

 named as a synonym Polyplaxiphora, Blainville. I have been unable 



» It is with great regret that I record Mr. Wilson's death, which occurred on 

 October 22nd, 1895, at the age of 67. 



