TARDIGRADA: AUSTRALIA 133 



very difficult to be sure about, and I do not feel justified in separating a new species 

 on a mere difference in the relative proportions of two processes. 



In a subsequent chapter in this paper, on Canadian Tardigrada (p. 163) another 

 form is recorded doubtfully as E. oihonnce. Its divergence from the type has taken 

 quite another direction. On any estimate of specific values these two extreme forms 

 (the Canadian and the Australian) cannot be regarded as one and the same species, 

 but we must learn more about the extent and the^ limits of variation among Ecliinisci 

 before we shall know what to make of them. 



Description. Length 250 ,, exclusive of legs; seta a 130 M, & 36 M, c 50 M, 

 d 60 M, e 150 M. Mouth cirri long and palps large. Dorsal processes, over c a seta of 

 120 M, over d one of 30 n. Plates nine, two pairs, two median. The dots are of moderate 

 size, and appear to be pits. They are uniform in size and regularly spaced. The 

 lumbar plate is trefoliate and divided into four facets, of which the posterior one 

 shows obscure subdivision into two. The spines of the fringe are triangular and acute. 

 The claws are large (actual measurement not noted) and the inner ones have de- 

 curved spines (barbs) a little way above the base. 



Habitat. Among moss, Australian Alps near the southern border of New South 

 Wales, altitude 5000 to 6000 feet. 



Echiniscus, sp. ? (Plate XVI. Fig. 18) 



A large red animal (the figure is drawn from a small individual) with no dorsal 

 processes. Plates nine, V. and VI. united, two pairs, two median. Lateral processes 

 four setse, a, c, d, and e, each 100 M to 150 M or even more in length. Auricle at 

 base of seta a exceptionally long (about 15 M), palp near mouth very large. The 

 markings on the plates are larger and smaller dots, which look like perforations. 

 Each of the paired plates is divided into two dotted areas, separated by a plain 

 undotted band. The fourth legs have a fringe of sharp spines, and the inner claws 

 have small decurved barbs. 



The texture of the plates, and the interruption of the paired plates by a plain 

 band, are exactly as in E. duboisi (Plate XVII. Fig. 19) and E. spinulosus (Plate 

 XIX. Fig. 38). These characters may be common to many species of Echiniscus, 

 but species have not usually been examined with sufficient attention to the markings 

 of the plates. The absence of dorsal processes is probably not a constant character. 



Habitat. Australian Alps, New South Wales, altitude 5000 to 6000 feet. 



The lateral setse are the same in number as in E. testudo and some related 

 species, but they are ft, c, d, e, instead of a, b, c, e. E. velaminis has exactly the same 

 seta; (Plate XV. Fig. 6), but differs in having two dorsal setoe at each side, in not 

 having the paired plates divided into two dotted areas, in having the auricles small, 

 and no barbs on any claws. 



