144 



On the Genus ECTEINASCIDIA, and its Belations, 



with Descriptions of Two NEW SPECIES, and a 



Classification of the Family CLAVELINID^C. 



By W. A. Herdman, D.Sc, F.L.S., 



PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL. 



With Plates VI. and VII. 



[Read December 12th. 1890.] 



In my Keport upon the Tunicata collected during the 

 "Challenger" expedition, I formed the genus Ecteinas- 

 cidi r i* for three species of "social" Ascidians closely 

 relatsd to Clavelina, but forming a transition from the 

 lrttar to the more typical Ascidise Simplices, such as 

 Ascidia. The chief character of Ecteinascidia, which at 

 once distinguished it from Clavelina and the other Clavel- 

 inidse was that non-papillate I internal longitudinal bars 

 were present in the branchial sac. The three species 

 found during the Challenger expedition were : — E. turbi- 

 nata, from Bermuda, E. crassa from near Ki island in the 

 Malay Archipelago, and E. fusca from Banda in the 

 Moluccas. E. crassa was obtained from a depth of 129 

 fathoms, the other two were from shallow water. 



Sluiter, in his paper " Ueber einige einfachen Ascidien 

 von der Insel Billiton," f published in 1885, describes two 

 new species of "social" Ascidians, which he refers to 

 Ecteinascidia, viz., E. riibricollis and E. diaphanis. These 

 species are both evidently well-marked members of the 

 genus, and are closely related to E. turbinata from Ber- 



*Prelim. Rep., Part II., Proc. Roy. Soe. Edin. 1879-SO, p. 722; and 

 Cliall. Exp. Zool., vol. VI., p. 239, 1S82. 



+ Natnurkundig Tijdsehrift voor Nederlandsch Indie, Bd. XLV, p. 160. 



