84 SIR C. ELIOT ON NUDIBRANCHS [May 17, 



NoTODORis Bergh. 



[Bergh, " Neue Nacktschnecken d. Sudsee," p. Ill, in Jour, 

 d. Mus, Godeffroy, viii. 1875; Eliot, Nudibranchiata in J. S. 

 Gardiner's Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive 

 Archipelagoes, vol. ii. part 1.] 



This genus, which is recorded from three parts of the Indo- 

 Pacific, seems allied to jEgires and the little-known Triopella, 

 with which it forms a small group of phanerobranchiate Dorids 

 characterised by a hard texture, valves or other appendages pro- 

 tecting the gills, and vindifferentiated teeth. Both jEgires and 

 JVofodoris have simple unperfoliate rhinophores. 



The body of JVotodoris is hard and rough, often marked with 

 prominent ridges. The frontal veil is large. The branchiae, and 

 sometimes the rhinophores, are protected by valves. There is no 

 labial armature, and the teeth are hamate with indications of an 

 accessory denticle. Three species have been described, each from 

 a single specimen — JV. citrina B., JV. gardineri Eliot, and the 

 present N. minor. They are all yellow, differing chiefly in size, 

 shape, and the form of the branchial valves. It is just possible 

 that N. minor may be a young and undeveloped form. It is 

 smaller than the others, and superficially resembles a Phyllidia. 

 It has no distinct tail, no rhinophore valves, and no longitudinal 

 ridges. The branchial valve is three-lobed and not much sub- 

 divided. Possibly the gill is constructed differently from those 

 of other species. Both N. citrina and gardineri have rhinophorial 

 valves and a body tapering off into a tail : the former has a single 

 dorsal ridge running from the rhinophores to the branchial valve, 

 which is eight-lobed : the latter has four dorsal lidges and a 

 branchial valve three-lobed, with elaborate subdivisions. 



NoTODORis MINOR, sp. n. (Plate III. figs. 1 a-l g.) 



One specimen from Chuaka, east coast of Zanzibar. 



The living animal was 1 3 millimetres long, 5 broad and 4 high. 

 It was light lemon-yellow in colour, with sharply-marked trans- 

 verse black lines. The flat sole occupied the whole ventral 

 surface. The back was not quite smooth, the yellow parts being 

 really Ioav broad lumps between black depressions. The whole 

 body was very stiff and rigid, superficially resembling a Phyllidia. 

 The animal was never seen to move. 



In the preserved specimen the yellow has become whitish, but 

 otherwise the shape and markings of the living animal are pre- 

 served. The integuments are very hard and full of spicules. 

 There is no trace of any mantle-edge, and the body slopes straight 

 down to the sides of the foot. Over the mouth-parts is a strong 

 rounded frontal veil (figs. \a k 1 e), also descending right down to 

 the sides of the foot, and extending laterally about as far as the 

 rhinophores. At the beginning of the posterior third of the body 

 are the three gill-valves (figs. 1 a-l c). They are not noticeable 

 except in profile, as they lie rather flat, and are not much sub- 

 divided. Beneath them lie the gills (fig. Id), which appear to 



