Species of the Genus Scrupocellaria VAN BENEDEN (Bryozoa, Anasca) from Indian Waters A b s t r a c t Nine species of the genus Scrupocellaria VAN BENEDEN are figured and described in this paper. They are: 1. Scrupocellaria maderensis BUSK 2. S. obtecta HASWELL 3. S. mansueta WATERS 4. S. diadema BUSK 9. 8. talonis OSBURN 5. S. scruposa (LINNAEUS)
The specimens were collected from the south west and south east coasts of India. Six species are described for the first time from Indian waters. Variations noticed in the morphology of the above species with those described elsewhere are assessed and discussed.
A study of the genus from the available material shows t h a t characters like the number of spines and nature of scuta show considerable intraspecific differences. Variation in spine number is a common occurrence and undue importance to spine number, especially in the case of tropical species, should be given with due caution. The history of S. bertholettii is really confusing especially in,view of the creation of the var. tenuirostris. A comparative study of the type specimens would help t o clarify the taxonomic ambiguity of this species.
6 . S. spatulata (D'ORBIQNY)
- S. delilii (AUDOUIN) 8. S. bertholettii (AUDOUIN) I n t r o d u c t i o n Bryozoans of Indian waters have been partly studied by investigators from the collections of expeditions etc., but no serious attempt has been made, till recently, towards a taxonomic study of this group as such from the Indian region or to study many interesting aspects of its ecology. The paucity of even general information regarding the several aspects of this group from the west coast of India facing the Arabian sea, a typical tropical habitat, has been seriously felt in connection with such economically important problems as the biology of fouling in these waters.
The pioneering work on this subject is that of HINCKS (1884) describing six species from India, Singapore and Ceylon. Subsequently HINCKS (1887) described 7 more species from the Mergui Archipelago. THORNELY (1905) described and listed l l G species, of which 31 had already been recorded from Indian seas, 32 from Australian waters, 3 from the China Sea and outlying waters of the east, west and south of the Indian Ocean. In this report she 1) Formerly at the Biological Anstalt Helgoland, F.R.G.