Page:VCH Essex 1.djvu/121

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MARINE ZOOLOGY 8. Nasia reticulata (Linn.). I have found this in the Colne and I think elsewhere, but it is not abundant. IV. GASTROPODA OPISTHO- BRANCHIA 1. Acer a tullata, M tiller. This must be common in the upper part of the Stour, and I think I have collected it in the Colne. 2. Philine aperta (Linn.). Common off Mersea and met with in most other places. Nudibranchiata 1. Galvina cingu/ata t var. vittata (?) Specimens dredged off the Gunflcet bank in 1895, but not preserved or identified, were as far as I can remember more like E. vittata than any other figured by Alder and Han- cock. 2. Facelina coronata, Forbes and Goodsir. Some years ago this was not uncommon at a depth of a few fathoms off Mersea but always of small size, and lately has been rare. In 1889 good specimens were common in the creek east of Walton-on-Naze. Specimens carefully dried on glass, and well soaked with gum arabic to protect them from the solvent action of the Canada balsam in which they were afterwards mounted, have kept their colour well for ten years, and are in every way satisfactory. 3. Fiona marina (Forskal). Many years ago I dredged in Harwich harbour a Nudibranch which I did not again find until 1901, when I obtained two in the Orwell, a short distance outside Essex. They seem to differ from the figures in Alder and Hancock's Ray Society's monograph only in being smaller, which is not surprising, since the two which they had found were obtained off Falmouth. 4. Acantkodoris pilota (Mailer). This is common amongst the Fuci on the banks of the Crouch at Burnham, and is also dredged off Mersea. By proper management both the form and colour may be well pre- served in undiluted glycerine. 5. Goniodoris castanea, Aid. & Han. I obtained in the Orwell a specimen of this which corresponds with the figure of the only specimen which Alder and Hancock had found, and is quite unlike any other. ///. Cephalopoda 1. Sepia offtcinafisy Linn. In 1899 I caught a number of small speci- mens off Mersea, but had never seen one before. They are rather too young for accurate determination, but probably belong to this species. 2. Sepio/a at/antica, D'Orb. Eleven years ago this was very abundant in the creek east of Walton-on-Naze, and not uncommon at all other stations, but latterly has become more and more rare. 3. Loligo media (Linn.). Some years ago this was fairly common in the Stour near Harwich, but latterly it has become more and more rare. This has been kindly identified for me by Mr. W. E. Hoyle. At my request Mr. Wm. Cole has very kindly supplied me with the following list of the marine testaceous mollusca of the Essex coast, which have come under his notice in connection with the Essex Field Club and the museum at West Ham. It will show the species which occur outside the district which I have more especially studied.