UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



IN 



ZOOLOGY 



Vol. 16, No. 24, pp. 439-512, plates 38-46 August 17, 1917 



ASCIDIANS OF THE LITTORAL ZO^^g q^ 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA /^- 



BY *, 



WILLIAM E. BITTER and EUTH A. FORSYTH X -^ '' 



(Coniribulion from the Scripps Institution tor Biological Research) 



The aim of this paper is mainly to contribute to the knowledge of 

 the ascidian fauna of the California coast south of Point Conception. 

 In it are included descriptions of all the new species of which speci- 

 mens are contained in available collections; also a list, with supple- 

 mentary notes, of all the species of the region previously described 

 from the same area. This limitation in the scope of the study has 

 led us to exclude from it a considerable number of species which in 

 all probability ought to be included, but are not, because they are 

 known to us only from the localities north of the Point. More exhaus- 

 tive collecting, particularly on the Santa Barbara Islands and the 

 opposite mainland, will undoubtedly bring to light many species which 

 we now know only from northern localities, where much more collect- 

 ing has been done than anywhere south of the Point excepting the 

 San Pedro and San Diego regions. 



The considerable number of species here recorded as occurring at 

 La Jolla and San Diego only may be taken as indicative of what is to 

 be expected when other portions of the coast have been as well searched 

 for ascidians as this. Nor should it be supposed that even the La 

 Jolla-San Diego region has been exhausted. 



The two lists here given of species, with the families to which they 

 belong, include all the ascidians of the southern California littoral zone 

 known to science, and also those not yet known from the littoral, but 

 occurring off shore in depths of water so shallow that they may be 

 expected to be found on shore. 



