RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM. 
[239 
A BRACHIOPOD NEW TO AUSTRALIAN WATERS. 
— BY — 
W. B. ALEXANDER, M.A. 
On July 26, 1913, I visited Cottesloe Beach to look for marine 
animals which might have been washed up by the stormy weather 
of the earlier part of the week. My search was well rewarded by 
the discovery of a Brachiopod shell in good condition which I was 
able to identify from Davidson’s work on “ Recent Bracbiopoda” as 
Terebratulina radiata, Reeve. 
The species is characterised by the pair of ribs which run for- 
wards along the dorsal valve, separated by a deep groove. On the 
ventral valve the middle line is occupied by a strong rib, with a 
groove on each side. The deltidial plates in my specimen are 
united, thus completing the foramen ; Davidson states that this 
condition “ appears to be the exception and not the rule.” My 
specimen is n lines long, 8 broad and 6 deep; these dimensions 
agree with those given by Davidson except that for breadth, which 
he gives at 9 lines. He states, however that he had seen “ a great 
many specimens of the shell, some as wide as long, others longer 
than wide”, so that the width is a very variable feature. 
It is possible that this species is really a variety of Terebratulina 
cancellata, Koch, which appears to be the only Brachiopod previously 
recorded from Western Australia, from which country the type- 
specimens were said to have been brought previous to 1843. Phis 
latter species occurs on the coasts of New South Wales, Tasmania 
and South Australia, and one would suppose that if T. radiata 
were only a variety of that species it would have been found with it 
in the other States. 
Davidson says on this subject : “ Mr. Lovell Reeve considers 
this to be a good and well-marked species, and in this statement I 
feel disposed to concur. I have seen a great many specimens of 
the shell ... all presenting a more or less well-marked bipli- 
cation. It is a smaller shell than T . cancellata , its nearest ally.” 
