Nelson Annandale

Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa Nelson Annandale

The most striking feature of this list is the evidence it affords as to the distinct character of the fauna of the Malabar Zone, a feature that is also remarkably clear as regards the Potamonidæ, one genus of which (Gecarcinucus) is peculiar, so far as India is concerned, to that zone. As regards the sponges we may note the occurrence of no less than three species of the subgenus Stratospongilla, which has not been found elsewhere in India except on one occasion in Mysore, and of a species of the genus Corvospongilla, which is unknown from the rest of Peninsular India and from the Himalayas. The genus Pectispongilla is only known from the Malabar Zone. Among the polyzoa the genus Fredericella[D] appears to be confined, so far as the Indian and Burmese fauna is concerned, to the Malabar Zone, and the same is true as regards the group of species to which Plumatella tanganyikæ, an African form, belongs.