20 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



least one of the uses of this, to some persons purely " ornamental," 

 armor. The shell fragments I found supported indiscriminately by both 

 their convex and concave surfaces. 



Mr. Willcox and the cook were very fortunate in securing with 

 the dip-net some half-dozen specimens of a large spotted Aplysia or 

 sea-hare, which appears to be new to science. The largest individual 

 measured about eight inches in length, and full five inches in width. 

 The color of the mantle was sea-green, tinged with purple, with large 

 irregular blotches of lighter color, and numerous white, or at least very 

 light, spots of about the dimensions of the cross-section of a slate-pencil. 

 The nearest ally of this animal appears to be the Aplysia dcpi/ans 

 (leporind) of the Mediterranean, from which, however, the species differs 

 in many essential particulars. I would propose for the new form the 

 name of Aplysia Willcoxi. When placed in a bucket of water, especially 

 when irritated, the animal emitted a magnificent purple-crimson fluid, 

 which almost instantly clouded everything in the vessel. Two other 

 species of Aplysia-forms belonging to the genus Notarchus were found 

 at the same locality, one of which appears to be identical with the West 

 Indian N. Pleii ; the other closely resembles the eastern N. Savignana, and 

 may be identical with that species. A dozen or more of the individuals were 

 collected, and placed in our alcohol vessels, the strength of the alcohol in 

 which they were immersed being gradually raised from below 50 per 

 cent, to about 80 per cent. The animals were evidently caught on their 

 feeding-grounds, a grass shoal rising to within about three feet of the 

 water-surface. On our return to this spot, toward the close of our 

 journey, a large individual of the Aplysia Willcoxi was observed slowly 

 floating out to sea, propulsion on the surface of the water being 

 effected or assisted through a measured movement of the folds of the 

 mantle. 



We found a small sand-fly very abundant at this locality, which 

 annoyed us considerably when on land, the first time that any annoyance 

 was experienced from insect pests. So deficient, indeed, did the entire 

 region thus far traversed appear in insect life that one might almost have 

 concluded that the members of this group were either entirely wanting 

 or but accidentally represented. Travelers who, at this season of the 

 year, expect to meet with a gorgeous entomological display, rivaling 

 what has so frequently been described as a heritage of the tropics, will 

 naturally be disappointed, as will also the botanist, who, in anticipation 

 of the facts of nature, expects to revel in a bed of flowers. It is a mistake 

 to suppose that there are here no true seasons of animal and vegetable 

 life. Hibernation, or retardation of growth as dependent upon seasonal 

 conditions, is probably nearly as well marked in Florida as it is in most 

 of the region situated to the far north, and I have no doubt that the 



