the Trondhjem Fiord. \'1~ 



wlnte, though pomcllmes, as at Guernsey, it is pinkisli or 

 jialc browuisli yellow. 



Sj)ccimens of P. hcUa are in my collection from Shetland 

 {Barhe and A. ^f. 3'.) ; Aberdeen [the late Bohert Dawson) ; 

 Bergen and Ilardanger Fiords, Norway {A. M. N.) ; Green- 

 land {'Valorous^ Exjtcd.) ; Gulf of St. Lawrence [Wliit- 

 eaves). 



"What is Lepralia Belli, Dawson? As few persons would 

 liavc the opportunity of consulting the paper in which the 

 species is described, I give here its characters : — 



" In large patches. Young cells granular, semihyaline, 

 confluent ; mouth immersed, sinuatcd, with a vibracuhmi or 

 avicularium inside the middle of the lower lip ; ovicclls 

 rounded, granulous like the cells. Old cells white, opaque, 

 flat above, and separated by a deep sinuous furrow. Cells 

 liaving a strong tendency to form rows radiating from tlie 

 centre of the patch. It is allied to L. concinna, Busk, but 

 differs in essential points from his description and figure." * 



Kow the words " Young cells granular, semihyaline," 

 apply very accurately to Porella concinna, but not at all to 

 1\ hello, Busk. Mr. Ilincks, in Brit. Pol. pi. xlvi. fig. 6, 

 figures from a Canadian specimen — authoritatively named? 

 — Porella concinna, var. Belli. It represents accurately a 

 common overgrown state of P. concinna, which is very 

 different from the same condition of P. hella. I have before 

 me a mounting, belonging to Mr. Whiteaves, who would 

 certainly know Dawson's species, Avhich exactly corresponds 

 with Ilincks's figure, and is labelled '■'■Lepralia Belli.'''' I 

 think therefore there can be no question that Dawson's 

 species is a synonym of P. concinna. Mr. Hincks has 

 hitherto united the forms which I have here deemed 

 distinct, P. concinna and P. hella ; but I think his second 

 opinion was, at any rate, mistaken when in a recent paper f 

 he transferred the L. Belli oi Dawson from tlie form to which 

 he had at first assigned it, and applied it to one which is 

 undoubtedly what I call P. hella. Of course it is quite 

 possible that Dawson may have confused the species and 



* Described by Principal Dawson in " Contributions to Canadian 

 Natural History by W. S. M. d'UiLan and Robert Bell " (extracted from 

 the ' Ueport ut'tbe Canadian Survey ' for ISoS), 18C0, p. 33. Two other 

 new forms are in this paper described by Dawson— i/?}j^;o^/(oa expama, 

 which subsequently, ijruorant of this paper, 1 by a singular coincidence 

 described under the same name; and ie/ira//«j;/«??a, afterwards named 

 by Smitt Myriozoon cijurctatum. 



"t Hincks, " Polyzoa of the St. Lawrence," Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, 

 ser. 0, Tol. iii. p. 428, pi. xxi. fig. 4. 



