2h-i 



A REVISION OF THE NEW ZEALAND ATHORACOniORIDvE. 

 By Henby Suter. 



Send 9th April, 1897. 



During tlic last few years I have tried to get specimens of our native 

 slugs from as many localities as possible, and the material thus brought 

 together, comprising all the species known, enables me to attempt this 

 revision. Since publishing the "Reference List of the Land and 

 Fresh-water Mollusca of New Zealand,'" in 1893, Mr. W. E. 

 Collinge has described Janella maculata" from specimens I sent him, 

 collected in the Forty Mile Bush, North Island. As will be shown 

 later on, I do not consider Mr. Collinge's species new ; however, its 

 creation has demonstrated that we have more distinct species than 

 I was willing to admit in the " Beferencc List." 



Then Coekerell's Neojanella dubia ^ required investigation, as well as 

 8imroth's Athoracophorus marmoratus. The former I considered to be 

 synonymous with A. bitentaculatus, Q,uoy & Gaim., the latter with 

 A . mannoreus, Hutton, but in both cases I was wrong. Specimens are 

 now in my possession, and on examining and dissecting them 1 con- 

 vinced myself that my former conclusions were erroneous. 



A new species, A. Simrothi, which exteriorly is very distinct from 

 all the other species, has been described in these Proceedings (ante, 

 p. 34), and with another interesting new species brings up the number 

 of known species to eight, three only having been admitted in the 

 •' Beference List." 



Mr. Collinge was no doubt quite right when, in concluding his 

 paper (t.c, p. 530), he expressed the opinion that the whole family 

 Janellidic required revision, and that a series of coloured drawings 

 taken from living specimens should be provided. Unfortunately my 

 means are too limited to undertake the latter task ; while with regard 

 to the present revision of the New Zealand Athoracophoridae I am 

 fully aware that it is very far from being exhaustive, leaving many 

 questions concerning the members of this very interesting family 

 untouched, especially their more detailed anatomy. 



The very peculiar and interesting structure of the eyes, as demon- 

 strated by Dr. Simroth in A. marmoratus,^ on which he based his 



' Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, ser. ii, voL vii, pp. 613-665. 



2 Rroc. Zool. Soc, 1894, p. 527. 



3 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1891, p. 217. 



* Nova Acta Acad. Cms. Leop. Carol., Ed. liv, p. 7C, pi. iv, figs. 19, 20. 



