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THE CHITON FAUNA OF THE KEKMADEC ISLANDS. 



Ey Tom Iredale. 



Read 12th December, 1913. 



PLATES I, II. 



During 1908 I collected all the Cliitons I could at Sunday Island in 

 the Kermadec Group. Towards the end of 1907 my friend Mr. A. F. 

 Basset Hull visited Lord Howe Island, one of his main objects being 

 the collection of Chitons. Near the end of the succeedincj year lie 

 made a trip to Norfolk Island, again one of his chief interests being 

 this group of molluscs. Early in 1909 when passing through Sydney 

 we examined each other's collections, since the zoology of these three 

 localities has long been a tlieme for comparison, I proposed to 

 withhold the results of my own studies until Mr. Hull's paper was 

 published, since he had been first in the field. Having critically 

 examined many Chitons at the British Museum, I included in some 

 notes in this journal (vol. ix, pp. 160-2, 1910) a brief account of the 

 habits and relationship of the forms I procured at the Kermadeos, 

 making allusion to Mr. Hull's collection. 



In the study of the Lord Howe and Norfolk Island Chitons 

 Mr. Hull was assisted by Mr. Hedley, and their conclusions have 

 recently been published (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. xxxvii, 

 pp. 271-81, 1912). As above noted, I profited by the interchange 

 of specimens, but recently I have acquired very large collections of 

 the Lord Howe and Norfolk Island species, made by my friend and 

 companion collector at the Kermadecs, Mr. Boy Bell. These large 

 collections enable me to deal very completely with the relationships 

 of the species found at each group, and I therefore propose to divide 

 tliis paper into two sections, the first being a systematic and 

 descriptive account of tlie Kermadec Island Chitons, the second 

 a comparative review of the Chitons of the three localities previously 

 named. 



1 . Systematic Account. 



The classification here utilized is based upon that jiroposed by 

 Dr. J. Thiele in his " Bevision des Systems der Chitonen ", published 

 in Chun's Zoologica, 1909-10. Hitherto most workers have made 

 use of that introduced by Pilsbry in his memorable monograph of this 

 group iu the Mamial of Conchology , vols, xiv and xv (part), 1892-4. 

 Pilsbry's exposition was so brilliantly effected that it inaugurated 

 a new era in the study of the group : based upon coiichological 

 characters easily grasped by any painstaking student, the work was 

 so thoroughly done that improvement seemed impossible, more 

 especially as the results of intricate investigations were so clearly 

 expressed. As a matter of fact, for absolutely fifteen years it received 

 no practical amendment; yet during the whole of that time work 

 was being very assiduously carried on, the whole of this work being 



