Fam. 1, Plate 14.
DORIS SPARSA, Alder and Hancock.
D. depressa: pallio lutescenti-albo, maculis paucis castaneis sparso, tuberculis remotis rotundatis :
tentaculis subconicis> albis, brunneo lituratis, marginibus foraminum 3-4 tuberculatis: branchiis 9,
parvis, pinnatis, anum baud propinque cingentibus.
Doris sparsa, Aid. and Hanc. in Ann. Nat. Hist, v, 18, p. 293.
» Hab. On Cellepora pumicosa from the fishing boats, Cullercoats, A. E.
Body a quarter of an inch long, ovate, much depressed, and nearly equally'rounded at
both ends. ' Cloak extending very little beyond the foot, of an obSchre pale yellow, with a
few distant reddish-brown freckles or spots, and covered with smallish, obtuse, flattened,
spicfdqse tubercles, set rather apart, and of unequal sizes, becoming smaller towards the
margin. The cloak is stiffened and crowded with spicula, arranged transversely on the hack,
and diagonally at the sides : the margin beneath has a minutely scaled or reticulated
appearance, probaBly caused by the ends of the spicula appearing through. Dorsal tentacles
slightly conical, with eight or nine broad distant lamina;; whitish, or nearly colourless, witfl
a few blotches of olive brown. They are without sheaths, hut the margins of the cavities are
furnished with three or four large tubercular points, and a small, smooth, whitish area
extends into an obtuse point behind them. Branchial plumes nine, very small, simply
pinnate, pointed, colourless ; arranged in an incomplete circle, round the vent, leaving a
small tuberculated space within. Head with a broad, laterally expanded veil, forming a
semicircle parallel to the .margin of the cloak. Mouth circular, with puckered Ups. Foot
ovate, truncated, and slightly sinuated in front, nearly as broad as the cloak, and occasionally
extending a little beyond it posteriorly. It is pellhcid and nearly colourless, with the liver
appearing through the centre, rather narrower than usual, of a brownish salmon colour.
This species, though closely resembhng D. depressa and D. pusilla, is readily, distinguished
from either by the character of the tubercles. From the former it also differs iu
the greater size of the branchiae, and from the latter in their colour and form, as well as in the
colour of the1 tentacles.
A specimen of this new Doris was obtained from the fishermen’s lines at Cullercoats, in
December, 1845. It was adhering to Cellepora pumicosa incrusting the base of a Flustra.
It lived with us more than a month, hut. did not show much activity, and seldom floated
^5ji the surface of the water.
Figs. 1, 2, 3. Doris sparsa, different views.
4, 5. Side and front views of a tentacle.
6. A branchial plume.
7. A portion of the cloak showing the tubercles.