226 



in addition, it is an exceptionally large race with larger scales than any from the 

 other States, but in face of the limited material available it seems best, at any 

 rate for the present, to distinguish it only by a varietal name. I therefore pro- 

 pose to recognize it as a variety of H. resplendens under the name zvesternensis. 



It seems probable that the western form is the progenitor of the South 

 Australian shell, and that the two forms, the eastern and the western, may have 

 become intermixed in the State of Victoria, since the breaking down of the 

 Bassian Isthmus. It is interesting to note that the megalapores, or terminals, of 

 the sensory fibres are seen in these forms as black dots in the centres of each 

 pit, in the shell sculpture. 



IscHNOCHiTON (Haploplax) lentiginosus, Sowcrby, 1840. 



(Chiton lentiginosus, Sow., Mag. Nat. Hist. Charlsworth, iv., (N.S.), p. 293, June, 

 1840; Chiton adclaidensis, Reeve, Conch. Icon., t. 191, f. 123, May, 1847.) 



The following is the original description by Sowerby of a specimen from 

 Newcastle, New South Wales: — "Shell oval, carinated, smooth; back elevated, 

 lateral areas inconspicuous. Colour tawny-brown, ornamented with round blue 

 spots. Margin minutely scaly; length, 15X9 mm." 



As compared with /. smaragdinus or /. resplendens, this species is normally 

 broader. The largest I collected at Bulli, in 1915, measures 16X11 mm. The 

 "round blue spots" seem consistently present on all specimens, but in some the 

 spots coalesce, forming blotches. The end valves and the lateral areas show 

 shallow radial ribbing, which is broken, especially so in the lateral areas, by 

 concentric growth sulci. 



The median areas and the rest of the shell, in a less degree, are decorated 

 with minute granules which are somewhat confused in their distribution. 



While in the British Museum, last June, I was able to examine the types 

 of Australian Polyplacophora in that collection, and my acknowledgments are 

 due to Mr. Tom Iredale for much help in connection therewith. Together we 

 examined Reeve's Chiton adelaidensis. My notes are as follows : — "This is 

 Haploplax lentiginosus, Sowerby, without the blue spots, the whole being dirty 

 white in colour. The scales are larger than H. resplendens, except the specimens 

 from Yallingup, but are similar to H. lentiginosus. There is no doubt in my 

 mind that Reeve's locality of Port Adelaide is quite a mistake. I have never 

 taken this species in South Australia, though Mr. Iredale informed me that he had 

 some that were alleged to have been taken by Mr. E. H. V. Matthews, near 

 Second Valley, in this State. It will be seen that Sowerby's name antedates that 

 of Reeve's by seven years. 



Papuan Chitons. 



I am indebted to my friend Dr. W. G. Torr for the opportunity of examining 

 and describing a small collection of Chitons made by the Rev. R. Andrew, in 

 Papua. 



AcANTHOPLEURA spiNiGERA, Sowcrby, 1840. 

 (Chiton spinigcr, Sow., Mag. Nat. Hist., 1840, p. 287.) 



There are in the collection three large eroded specimens from Normanby 

 Island, Papua, and one large and two juvenile specimens, in perfect order, from 

 Misima, Papua. I do not consider these conspecific with the Australian A. 

 gemmata, Blainville, for in addition to the more granulose character of the 

 sculpture the Papuan shells have much longer, more slender, and curved spicules 

 on the girdle. I consider them conspecific with the shell from the west coast 

 of Sumatra referred to in my paper (Jour, and Proc. Roy. Soc. W. Austr., vol. 

 viii., p. 31) under the name given above. The spicules on the Papuan specimens 

 are considerably more slender and curved than the Sumatra specimen, and may, 

 of course, be a distinct race. 



