SIPUNCULOIDEA. 



By W. F. LANCHESTEI;, M.A., 

 King's College, Cambridge. 



I 'MA si i H.OSOMA SOC'IUM. 



THLS collection consists of some thirty specimens, all of small size, which were 

 mostly taken )>y means of a net from holes in the ire. while the 'Discovery' was 

 in Winter Quarters. One specimen, however, was captured with the dredge, the 

 depth being given as 100 fathoms. That the bulk of them belong to a single 

 species of Phascolosoma is quite certain, both from their general appearance and 

 from a study of the relations of the various organs, though it is to be noted that 

 these relations have been found to be far from invariable. Some half-a-dozen, 

 however, have been the cause of considerable difficulty in the exact determination of 

 their specific identity ; yet it has seemed best to include them under the above 

 species. In the first place, they agree in the main details of their structure with 

 the typical forms; and I have not been able to place them without hesitation 

 under any of the other closely allied species (sub-species or varieties) which centre 

 round the Arctic Ph. margaritaceum, namelv. Ph. antarcticum, c<///.v//' ( . ////-. fuxcum, 

 </<'<'</it.niitiii. or la<j<'n*c. In the second place, I find in some of them no structural 

 differences from the typical form : while in others, such differences arc hanllv greater 

 than those found within the limits of the tvpical form : while in regard to the most 

 obvious distinction that separates them, namelv, difference of general appearance, 

 I have considered that, in so far as colour is concerned, the difference may be due to 

 methods of preservation (in one case at least corrosive sublimate is given as the 

 preservative), and that, in so far as the greater thickness and opacitv of the bodv- 

 wall is concerned, this is quite conceivably due to the greater contraction of the 

 muscles that limit it interiorly. One has, of course, been influenced in forming an 

 opinion on this matter by a variety of other considerations. A certain small 

 acquaintance with the various types of Sipunculids enables one to estimate, by a 

 method which is beyond description, except in so \':\v :^ it may be called the method 

 of past experience or the results of practice, how far one mav venture to overlook 

 those differences of detail which occur as between individual specimens. Again, one 

 is able to recall that, while in manv Sipunculids certain outstanding features appeal-. 

 which enable one with little difficulty to place the individual considered, yet in other- 

 these same features are too indefinite or variable to be of much use. And the actual 

 truth is that, speaking generally, the main features which we rely on as affording 



VOL. IV. V 



