SQ PEOF. W. J. DAKIN ON A NEW SPECIES OF 



distinct in many ways and occupies a somewhat isolated position geograplii- 

 cally, it is better to consider it a distinct species at once. 



The genus Ptycliodera was first recorded from the Australian coast by 

 Professor J. P. Hill in 1893 — the species coming from the coast o£ New 

 South Wales. This Eastern form was named Ptycliodera australiensis. 

 Since that time a number of new species and varieties of the genus have 

 been recorded, and one of these was also from the East Australian coast — 

 Ptycliodera hedleyi. 



In 1901, however, Spengel * revised the nomenclature of Enteropneusta, 

 and as a result confined the genus Ptycliodera to the species formerly placed 

 in the group Chlamydothorax. As a result of this reshuffling of names^ 

 Pt. australiensis, Hill, became Balafioglossus australiensis (Hill) and Pt. 

 hedleyi, Hill, became Glossohalanus hedleyi (Hill). 



Ptycliodera pelsarti, n. sp., from the Abrolhos Islands, is thus the only 

 ■species of the genus so far known from Australia, although all three 

 Australian Enteropneusta belong to the same family — the Ptychoderidse, 

 Spengel. 



Ptycliodera flava, Eschscholtz, 1825, is the oldest-known Enteropneust. 

 The description of the original specimens from the Marshall Islands in the 

 Pacific was, unfortunately, defective, and no Enteropneusta from this locality 

 have since been investigated. In 1897 f, however, Willey described speci- 

 mens found by him on a small islet inside the reef of New Caledonia as 

 probably identical with Pt. flava of Eschscholtz, but suggested the name 

 Pt. caledoniensis until the Marshall Island Pi. y?am was re-examined. The 

 next mention oiPt.jiava was in Hill's Report ^ on the Enteropneusta of 

 Funafuti. In 1903, Spengel published a paper § on an Enteropneust from 

 one of the Sandwich Islands — Laysan, — which resembled closely Willey's 

 specimens of Pt. fiava from New Caledonia. This form is described as 

 Pt. laysanica. Finally, in the same year, Punnett described the Entero- 

 pneusta from the Laccadive Islands and Maldive Islands, and regarded 

 .several forms as new varieties of Ptycliodera fiava. 



The present position is, therefore, to be summed up as follows : — 



Ptychoderajiam. Type insiifficieiitly described. 



Habitat : Marshall Isles. Pacific. 

 Pt. flava, var. caledoniensis, Habitat : New Caledonia, Pacific. 



or Pt. caledoniensis. 

 Pt. flava, var. laysanica, Habitat : Laysan Isle. Pacific Ocean. 



or Pt. laysanica. 



* " Die Benennung der Enteropneusten-Gattungen," Zool. Jahr., Syst. Abt. Bd. xv. Hft. i. 

 1901. 



t " On Ptycliodera flava, Eschscholtz," Q. J. M. S. vol. xl. n. s., 1897. 

 X Memoirs Australian Museum, vol. iii. 

 § Zool. Jahr., Anat. Abt. Bd. xviii. 1903. 



