130 WALTER GARSTANG, M.A. 



opportunity of re-describing this Ascidian. It appears to be a com- 

 paratively rare species, and I am not aware that it has been hitherto 

 recorded from any other locality than the coast of Connemara, in the 

 West of Ireland, 



The body is ovate in form, thick, lobate, attached generally by the 

 posterior half, sometimes by a larger area of the left side. When 

 living, it is invariably of a rosy-flesh colour ; and this colour, upon 

 close examination, is seen to be due to a number of crimson dots (the 

 culs-de-sac of the test vessels) profusely scattered in the substance of 

 the test. 



The dimensions of the largest individual (PI. V, fig. 1) are as 

 follows : 



Maximum length (antero-posterior) . • lyV inch. 



,, breadth (dorso-ventral) . . . f ,, 

 „ thickness (right to left) . . f „ 



The oral and cloacal apertures are on the right side of the body ; 

 the oral is sub-terminal, the cloacal half-way down and near the dorsal 

 edge ; both are small and inconspicuous. The position of the cloacal 

 aperture varies very little in these specimens ; in a few it is slightly 

 posterior to the middle dorso-ventral line, but never so much so as to 

 be two-thirds of the way down. No ocelli were observed around the 

 apertures. 



The test is, in Hancock's words, "firm, thick, semi-transparent, 

 smooth and soft to the touch, rather shining, obtusely lobed, of a 

 rosy-flesh colour, showing minute punctures and veinhigs of crimson." 

 In its thick, smooth, firm, and shining character, the test of this 

 species resembles that of Phallusia mammillata, a resemblance further 

 borne out by the lobes of its surface, although these are much flatter 

 and less protuberant in Ascidia mollis, than in the latter species. In 

 its softness, however, the test of this species is very unlike that of 

 P. mammillata. 



Hancock states that the " terminal extremities " of the blood-vessels 

 of the test are "more inflated and globular in this than in any other 

 species." I have a distinct recollection of their pyriform character in 

 the living anima but their appearance in specimens after .preservation 

 in alcohol is very different ; and they are seen to be elongated and 

 finger-shaped, rather than inflated and globular (PI. VI, fig. 2). 



