134 
South Australian nudibranchs. and an Enumera- 
tion OF THE KNOWN AUSTRALIAN SPECIES. 
By Herbert Basedow and Charles Hedley. 
[Read April 4, 1905.] 
Plates I. to XII. 
Historical Sketch. 
Our earliest information of Australian Nudibranchs 
dates from Baudin's expedition. The untrained collectors 
who visited Australia previously were unlikely to trouble 
with objects so difficult to procure or preserve. 
In the first years of the last century, those distinguished 
marine zoologists, Peron and Lesueur, took back with them 
to Paris several species, which were studied by Cuvier. These 
included ScyLlcea pelagica, Phyllirhoa lichtensteinii, Kentro- 
doris maculosa, and Gasella atromarginata. 
The next contribution was also from a French source. 
Quoy and Gaimard, the famous surgeon-naturalists of the 
Astrolabe Expedition, dredged their Doris violacea and D. 
aurea in nine fathoms, in Jervis Bay, N.S.W., and took 
Elysia australis on the beach near Sydney. 
Several active naturalists, Jukes, Macgillivray, Huxley, 
and Ince, served on H.M.S.S. Fly and Rattlesnake when 
those vessels were surveying the coast of Queensland. Hence 
the British Museum obtained much material. Gray was pro- 
vided with S'phaerodoris incii and Asferonofus rruenta, and 
Abraham with Platydoris coriacea, and others. 
During a brief visit to Sydney Dr. Stimpson procured 
there his Doris ohtusa, D. excavata, Goniodor\)< ohscura, and 
Aeolis cacao fir a. 
George French Angas resided for some years in Sydney. 
From 1858 to 1860 he took opportunities to make water- 
colour drawings from life of Sydney nudibranchs. He ex- 
amined thirty species, most of which were then new. Crosse 
published these sketches and descriptions, with comments of 
his own, in the Journal de Gonchyliologie. This important 
paper represents the only work done locally. 
During the voyage of the Challenger several species were 
dredged off the coasts of Queensland and New South Wales, 
and were described by Dr. Bergh in the Challenger Results. 
About the same time the naturalists of H.M.S. Alert 
collected five species in North Queensland, which were pub- 
lished in the Zoology of that voyage. 
A period of twenty years then elapsed, during which no 
additions of importance were made to our knowledge. 
