Observations on the distribution of some species of nudibranchiate mollusca in the China Sea / by C. Collingwood.

  • Collingwood, Cuthbert, 1826-1908.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the distribution of some species of nudibranchiate mollusca in the China Sea / by C. Collingwood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    dredged by Sir E. Belcher on the coast of Borneo, my speci- men being one inch and three-quarters in diameter. On a small island in Haitan Straits, on the coast of China, I met with five species. One of these I have already alluded to as having also occurred in the Pescadores. Of the remaining four, found upon a promising stony beach at spring tide, one was a large velvety-brown Doridopsis^ the second a small EuplocamuSj or, perhaps, Plocamophorus^ and the other two were richly coloured species of Chromodoris. Of these, one, studded with round crimson tubercles upon a cream-coloured ground edged with chrome, I afterwards found to be not un- common at Labuan, not only on the shores of Labuan itself, but also on two small islands adjacent—another instance of rather more than twenty degrees of separation, nearly the whole of the China Sea being between the two localities. On a submerged coral-reef, nearly in the centre of the China Sea, I found two species : one was probably a new species of Chromodorisand the other a variety of the Doris exanthemata of Kelaart, described by him in the ^ Annals ’ for 1859, among the Ceylon Nudibranchs. The specimen I obtained upon this reef was small, about 3 inches long, and by no means an ugly object; but upon a small coral-island on the west coast of Borneo, degrees south of the reef, I again met with this species—this time, however, much larger specimens, nearly 7 inches long and wide, which were truly wretched- looking objects for Nudibranchs, and much more like the loathsome diseased mass ” described by Kelaart. When I was at Labuan, on showing some of my drawings of the above Nudibranchs to a gentleman who had indulged in shell-collecting on the reefs, I was assured that many beau- tiful species of the family were to be found there; and I there- fore was greatly in hopes of adding largely to my collection at this place. The first species which occurred to me was, singularly enough, the Chromodoris which I had already found at the Pescadores; the next I recognized as an old acquaint- ance of Haitan Straits, and I began to think there was nothing new—in Labuan at least; but I ultimately discovered a new species of Doris.^ beautifully marked with longitudinal lines alternately nearly black and white, the tentacles and branchise being also mottled to match this colouring, the whole mantle and foot having a border of orange. This species was at that season of the year (August) pretty common; and I found it at Labuan, and also on both the small adjacent islands before mentioned. The gentleman who had described to me the appearance of certain species which he averred having seen in his shell-