430 REPORT OX THE SLUGS. 



So far as I am aware there are no previous records for any species of Veronicella 

 from either the Loyalty Islands or the New Hebrides, and Professor Simroth informs 

 me that he also knows of no such records. It is interesting to find amongst the 

 specimens collected in the New Hebrides, the two Australian species V. leydigi, Simr., 

 and V. hedleyi, Simr. 



In dealing with a family of molluscs like the Veronicellidae, one is very forcibly 

 impressed with the little value that can be attached to the external form and colour. 

 In spite of all the arguments in support of describing and identifj'ing such molluscs 

 from these features, here they are quite secondary, and to attach to them any special 

 importance would only lead to endless confusion; a reference to the works of Semper 

 and Simroth will illustrate the great similarity in colour and external markings that 

 exists, in species which are widely separated both geographically and anatomically. 

 Thanks to the work of the above-mentioned malacologists, we have anatomical details 

 for a large number of species in this family, and in separating those here enumerated 

 I have been guided almost entirely by their structure. It is much to be regretted 

 that we have as yet no account of the developmental history of some species of 

 Veronicella, for such a study would, I strongly believe, throw much light upon their 

 systematic position and their affinities to other families. 



At present it is difficult to say what characters may be regarded as affording 

 the best criteria for specific distinction, the chief points which I have here directed 

 attention to, where the material has permitted, are those enumerated by Simroth', viz. : 



a. The relations of the intestine to the liver. 



h. The differences in the distance between the terminal portion of the intestine 

 and the female genital orifice. 



c. The form and structure of the pedal gland. 



d. The form of the salivary glands. 



e. The terminal ducts of the male generative organs, particularly the recepta- 

 culum seminis and vas deferens. 



/. The thickness and structure of the notum. 



Of the second family, the Janellidae, there are two species, one of which has 

 formed the subject of part of an elaborate memoir by Plate^, the other is an immature 

 example of Aneitea, probably A. hirudo, P. Fischer'. 



I desire to express my best thanks to Professor H. Simroth for kind assistance, 

 and to Professor L. H. Plate, who very kindly sent me the type specimen and dissected 

 parts of Janella schaunislcnidi Plate, from the Bremen Museum, for comparison. 



1 Zool. Jahrb. {Abth. f. Syst.), 1890, Bd. v, p. 902. 



2 Zool. Jahrb. (Abth. f. Anat.), 1898, Bd. ii, pp. 193—280, Taf. 12—17. 



3 Journ. de Conchyl., 1868, T. xvi, pp. 145—46, 225—34, pi. xi. 



