On a new species of marine leech of the genus Branchellion (family Ichthyobdellidae), from the Indian coast.

The genus Branchellion Savigny (1822) has not been hitherto recorded. from the Indi~n seas althdUgh it has been reported from various parts oftlie Atlantic Ocean (Johnston 1865, Holt ~907, Leigh-Sharpe 1933a and Mey:er 1941), the Mediterranean Sea(Leigh~Sharpe 1933b), and from the PacIfic· Coast of Austra~ia (Baird 1869, MacDonald 1877, Leigh-Sharpe 1916, and Richardson 1949). Harding (1927), however, anticipated its possible occurrence on the Indian coast and hence included in the Fauna of British India a brief diagnosis of the genus.~ More recently, Moore (1944) described a specimen of Branch ell ion (B.·torpedin~·s·Harding): from the British Museum, reported to have been collected by. J. Hornell on July 10, 1936 from a marbled Torpedo Ray, from the Assumption Island (Lat. 9'44 S; Long. 46·30E), which is at least 2,300 miles from Cape Comorin. Hornell's specimen, being the only re\}ord of Branchellion, from anywhere near India, its present record from the Madras coast thus represents the first actual record of the genus from India.. A single specimen of Branchellian was kindly given to me by my colleague, Mr. G. J. Phanuel, who collected it on 28th December 19521 from 3J fisherman's basket in which fish were brought from the coast to the fishmarket at ROJapuram, Madras. It is usual for one to find in the unloaded fish basket; or near it, specimens of molluscs, and fish either damaged, or too small for consumption, and this specimen of leech was found along with such refuse. Therefore, its host is· unknown. It is in an undamaged condition and in the pres~rvative it has retained its normal form, without shrinkage. In its diagnosis, it differs considerably from the known members of the genus Br~nchellion, and hence it is described here as a new species Branchelliojl plic'l.tsbranch'Us sp. nov.