DORIS REPANDA, Alder and Hancock.
D. depressa, lactea: pallio expanso, granulato, serie maculorum luteorum alborumve utrinque
ornato : branchiis 5, parvis, tripinnatis, intra foramen retractilibus.
Doris repanda, Aid. and Hanc. in Ann. Nat. Hist. v. 9, p. 32.
Hab. Among rocks between tide-marks. Cullercoats, Whitley, and Newbiggin, Northumberland.
Scarborough, J. S. Bowerbank, Esq. Oban, Argyleshire, J. A . Roundstone, Connemara,
W. Thompson, Esq. and Professor E. Forbes.
Body above an inch long, elliptical, of a pure, waxy, semitransparent white. Cloak
widely expanded, covered with small, distant, obtuse, and rather inconspicuous opake white
tubercles, which gradually slope into the outline of the cloak at their bases. An irregular
row of opake white or sulphur yellow angular spots runs down each side at a short distance
from the margin of the cloak, which is thin and broad, extending much beyond the foot, and
marked on the under side with slender white nerve-like lines much divided towards the
margin. Dorsal tentacles issuing from slightly marginated and scalloped or tuberculated
apertures. They are opake white or yellowish, beautifully laminated with about twelve
or thirteen plates, and surmounted by a short, blunt point. Branchice small in proportion
to the size of the animal, consisting of five imperfectly tripinnate transparent white plumes;
the three anterior ones elegantly formed and distinct, the posterior deeply divided and
irregular, making it difficult to determine their number. They are retractile within a single
cavity. Mouth small, with two flat tentacular appendages, united above so as to form a
sub-quadrangular veil. . Foot narrowish, white, tinged with salmon-colour in the centre
from the liver appearing through. It is rounded and strongly grooved in front, with
parallel sides, and extends a short way beyond the cloak behind.
The pure waxy whiteness of the cloak, and the row of opake spots down each side,
which are constant characters in this pretty species, serve at once to distinguish it from its
congeners. Though found in some widely distant localities, it appears to be rather local, and
by no means so generally diffused as some of the other Dorides. It is not rare, however, on
the Northumberland coast, and may always be found on certain spots. We have not
succeeded in obtaining its spawn, but think it probable that its breeding season is either in
winter or early spring, at which season we have not had many opportunities of examining
the coast.
Figs. 1, 2, 3.
4.
5.
6, 7.
8.
Different views of Doris repanda.
A portion of the cloak, much magnified.
A branchial plume, highly magnified.
Different views of a dorsal tentacle.
Spicula from the cloak, much magnified.