29 
LERNAEOPODA GLOBOSA N. SP., A PARASITIC 
COPEPOD OF SCYLLIUM CANICULA. 
By W. HAROLD LEIGH-SHARPE, B.Sc. (Bond.). 
Part I. 
(With 3 Text-figures.) 
(The figures are all drawn from 'preparations mounted in Farrant's medium.) 
Habitat and Record. On 10. iv. 1918 my attention was called to five 
specimens of Lernaeopoda occurring on Scyllium canicula obtained at Ply¬ 
mouth. The largest copepod was attached outside and about one inch ventral 
to the left spiracle. The other four were deeply concealed within the left 
nasal groove, so that the nasal flap had to be cut away in order to detach the 
parasites. These specimens exhibit characters of their own which seem to 
combine those of other established species. The most striking modification 
is that the ends of the attaching “arms” (2nd maxillae) are expanded into 
large discs on either side of a vestigial bulla, thus recalling L. bidiscalis Kane, 
1892, though that species is described as possessing discs of a different con¬ 
formation, and as having no bulla. In other respects they agree more with 
L. musteli Thomson, 1899, notably as to their small size, and the proportion 
of the arms to their trunk. But to these points I do not attach much import¬ 
ance, since both may be due to the confined space in which the parasites are 
domiciled. Indeed I would not have mentioned them at all but that no re¬ 
corded Lernaeopoda of the well-established species obtains such small dimen¬ 
sions. L. musteli Thomson, however, was diagnosed from a single specimen, 
and has never been met with again. No details of appendages etc. were 
given, so that the species remains practically a nominal one. Since it was 
(1) taken from the cloaca, (2) of Mustelus antarcticus, (3) near New Zealand, 
it is most improbable that my specimens should be of that species. I therefore 
hold that this is a species new to science, and for it I propose the name 
Lernaeopoda globosa 1 . 
Only the females are dealt with in this paper. A common or central type 
(L. scyllicola) was described bv me in 1915, and may be referred to for purposes 
of comparison. 
1 Later, a single specimen of L. globosa was taken from the right nasal groove of S. canicula , 
one of a batch of six landed at Plymouth on May ‘21st, 1918. The specimen was perfect, and 
possessed two ovisacs. The new species therefore does not appear to be uncommon. 
