Affinities.—This species is allied to P. eburnea in the rudimentary condition of its terga; in the disc-shaped basal end of its carina; and in the presence in some specimens, of a fissure-like line on the scuta parallel to their occludent margins. Its affinity, however, is closer to P. fissa, as is more especially shown by the remarkable arrangement of the spines on the five posterior cirri.
4. [Pæcilasma fissa]. [Pl. II], [Fig. 4.]
P. valvis 7; scuto utroque è duobus juxtapositis segmentis formato; segmento altero intus dentato: tergis brevibus, ter aut quater carinâ latioribus: carinæ termino basali in discum parvum angustum infossum producto.
Valves 7; each scutum being formed of two closely approximate segments; of which one is internally toothed: terga short, three or four times as wide as the carina: carina with the basal end produced into a small, narrow, imbedded disc.
Spines on the segments of the posterior cirri arranged in single transverse rows.
Philippine Archipelago; Island of Bohol; parasitic on a spinose crab, found under a stone at low water; single specimen, in Mus., Cuming.
General Appearance.—Capitulum gibbous, broadly oval, nearly a quarter of an inch long. Valves white, smooth, moderately thick, marked by the lines of growth. The occludent segments of the scuta, and nearly the whole of the terga, and the whole of the carina, enveloped in lemon-yellow membrane, tinged with orange, but the specimen had long been kept dry.
Scuta formed of two, apparently always separate, segments, closely united, so that externally their separation is hardly visible, and does not allow of movement; the fissure thus formed runs almost in the line connecting the umbo and apex, (where in most species a ridge extends,) but a little on the carinal side of it. The occludent segment is narrowly bow-shaped, pointed at both ends, with the upper end projecting slightly beyond the apex of the lateral segment, and with the occludent margin regularly curved from end to end. The lateral segment is large, of an oval shape, with a narrow strip cut off on one side. Primordial valves very plain at the umbones of the lateral segments, but none are visible on the occludent segments; and this makes me believe that these two pieces are normally parts of a single valve; having only one specimen of P. fissa, I was not able to make out quite certainly whether the two segments are continuously united at their umbones by a non-calcified portion of valve, as is certainly the case with Dichelaspis. The basal margin of the lateral segment is narrow, inflected, and blends with the carino-tergal margin; it has an internal, prominent, basal rim, and towards the occludent margin a large, prominent, internal tooth. This internal basal rim is not parallel to the outer basal margin, but rises to a point a little way up the occludent margin, in the same manner as in P. eburnea, but in a lesser degree; in this latter species the peduncle is internally almost cut off by the large disc of its carina; here, on the other hand, it is internally almost cut off by these rims and the two large teeth of the lateral segments of the scuta.
Terga sub-triangular, short, nearly half as broad as long; three or four times as wide as the carina, and rather wider than the occludent segment of the scuta; occludent margin single, arched; carinal margin slightly arched; basal angle bluntly pointed.
Carina very narrow, much arched, running up just between the basal ends of the terga; exterior ridge enveloped in membrane; heel blunt, prominent; internally, not concave, even slightly convex, produced at the lower end into a very narrow, short, imbedded disc, (or rather tooth,) which is itself a little curved downwards and blunt at the end.