The Zoological Results of the “Challenger” Expedition

Abstract

VOLUME XIV. of the Zoological Series of these Reports contains Parts 38 and 39. Part 38 forms the second part of Prof. W. A. Herdman's Report on the Tunicata collected by the Expedition. It will be remem bered that the first part was published in 1882, and that it treated of the Simple Ascidians. The Compound Ascidians are described in the present Report, and the free-swimming or pelagic forms will form a third and concluding Report. The Compound Ascidians have always been regarded by biologists as a most difficult group to describe. The impossibility of finding good diagnostic characters in external markings or general con tour compels the investigator to search for such in minute internal structure—a laborious proceeding, and one that up to this had had no practical illustration. The large collection of Compound Ascidians made during the Expedition represented 102 species or well-marked varieties, and these are arranged in twenty-five genera. Eighty-eight of the species and ten of the genera are described here for the first time, and two new families have been established.

Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger” during the Years 1873–76 under the Command of Capt. G. S. Nares, R.N., F.R.S., and Capt. F. T. Thomson, R.N.

Prepared under the Superintendence of the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson., &c., and now of John Murray, one of the Naturalists of the Expedition. Zoology—Vol. XIV. By Prof. W. A. Herdman, and Hjalmar Théel. (Published by Order of Her Majesty's Government, 1886.)