94 
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLYPLACOPHORA. 
By W. G. Torr, M.A., B.C.L. (Oxon.), LL.D. 
(Dublin and Adelaide). 
[Read October 12, 1911.] 
PuaTes XXIV. anp XXV. 
In the September, 1910, number of the Proceedings of 
the Malacological Society of London, vol. ix., part 3, p. 153, 
Mr. Tom Iredale has some “Notes on Polyplacophora, chiefly 
Australian.”’ On p. 159, Mr. Iredale says: “I conclude that 
the chiton fauna of Western Australia will be of a most 
interesting nature.” 
Through the courtesy of Dr. J. C. Verco, the President 
of the Royal Society of South Australia, I was able during 
the Christmas vacation of 1910-11 to make a fairly thorough 
exploration of the south coast of Western Australia from 
Esperance to Albany, and the west coast as far north as 
Fremantle. 
The places visited were Esperance, Hopetoun, Albany, 
Ellenbrook and Yallingup (south of Cape Naturaliste), Geo- 
graphe Bay, Rottnest Island, and Fremantle Harbour. 
With the assistance of Mr. Hedley, conchologist (of the 
Australian Museum, Sydney), and Mr. Basset Hull, of Syd- 
ney, I have been able to identify twenty-three species of 
Western Australian polyplacophora similar to South Aus- 
tralian species and nine others, seven of which I take to 
be new. 
As Mr. Iredale suggests in the paper mentioned, the 
list contains representatives of the Adelaidean region. At 
least fifteen of the identified species are found in his Ade- 
laidean list, one is classified as Solanderian, two are in the 
Peronian, and three are in the “Doubtful Position” list. 
The seven new species will probably represent the Autochth- 
onian element to which Mr. Iredale refers. 
The small rise and fall of the tides (not more than 2 or 
3 ft.) on the visited parts of the Western Australian coast 
make chiton hunting much more precarious than in South 
Australian waters. While a large number of South Aus- 
tralian chitons are found in Western Australia, yet there are 
some striking differences. 
I have traced Plaxiphora albida, Blain, locally known as. 
P. petholata, Sby., all round the South Australian coast 
from MacDonnell Bay to Murat Bay, a distance of nearly a. 
