59 



A Review of the Genus loricella (Order poly- 

 placophora), with notes on features previously 

 Unnoted and Description of a new Species. 



By Edwin Ashby, F.L.S., M.B.O.U. 



[Read May 8, 1919.] 

 Plate X. 



The only recorded species of the genus Loricella was 

 described by H. Adams and Angas in P.Z.S., 1864, p. 193, 

 under the name of Lorica angasi, but 1 later Pilsbry, in Man. 

 Con., pt. 56, p. 238, very wisely separates it from that 1 genus, 

 and proposes the generic name of Loricella for its reception, 

 distinguishing it from the genus Lorica as follows : "Sinus 

 in tail valve a mere wave; jugal sinus lobed; girdle widest 

 in front, not cleft behind" ; but adds the note, "I have not 

 seen this species, which is here figured for the first time from 

 drawings made by Emerton for Carpenter/" 



An examination of a fair series makes it necessary to 

 modify this generic description. The sinus in the tail valve 

 in most specimens is considerably more than "a mere wave," 

 although certainly not as deep as in the genus Lorica, and Dr. 

 Pilsbry is quite in error in stating that the girdle "is not 

 cleft behind," for in all my specimens from New South Wales, 

 Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia the girdle is very 

 distinctly cleft, though only for half the width of the girdle. 

 The cleft in the girdle probably did not show clearly in the 

 dried specimens that Carpenter was dealing with, and this 

 fact somewhat misled Pilsbry. This cleft and the character 

 of the tail valve show some affinity with the genus Lorica, 

 but on the other hand the large head and small foot, together 

 with its markedly distinct girdle suggest that this relationship 

 may be more seeming than real. 



I therefore propose that instead of treating it as a section 

 or subgenus of Lorica, as is done by Dr. Pilsbry (Man. Con., 

 pt. 56, p. 233), it should be elevated to full generic rank. 



As Adams and Angas' type of Loricella angasi came from 

 Rapid Bay, South Australia, that name will have to be 

 retained for the South Australian species. It is remarkable 

 that in the original description no mention is made of the row 

 of long, branching, coarse hairs, or of the strange spear- 

 headed spicules attached to them, which are a prominent 

 feature on the girdle of the South Australian form, and which 

 is described herein for the first time. The only explanation 

 is that the type was a worn specimen that had been washed 

 ashore. 



