POLYCH.ETA. BENHAM. 219 



EUNICE BASSENSIS, M'lnlosli. 

 (Plate xli., figs. 67-74 ; Plate xlii., figs. 75-78.) 



Eunice bassensis, iVTIntosh, Chall. Rep., Zool, xii., 1885, 

 p. 298. 



It is with some hesitation that I attribute the material to 

 this species, for JVTIntosh's account is necessarily brief and 

 imperfect, as he had only a single fragment of the posterior 

 end of a worm upon which to found the characters of the 

 species, which are thus drawn only from the structure of the 

 foot and chsetse. But as that fragment was obtained from 

 near the localities in which the " Endeavour " material was 

 collected, and as these agree well with the few features men- 

 tioned by him, it seems probable that we are dealing with 

 his species. 



My material consists of one entire individual, eight cephalic 

 fragments of less or greater length, two anal fragments, and 

 three pieces from somewhere near the middle of the worm. 



The entire individual was studied. 



It is a fairly well preserved, though somewhat contracted, 

 female, filled with eggs ; it measures 140 mm. in length, with 

 a diameter of 5 mm. over the body, and a height of 5 mm. 

 It contains 112 segments in addition to the "head." 



Its colour is dark brown, highly iridescent, but the majority 

 of the specimens are quite a pale grey. 1 



The prostomium has the usual ventral median furrow, and 

 each lobe is traversed by an obliquely horizontal furrow 

 separating a smaller upper from a larger lower lobe. 



The tentacles are very definitely annulated, with deeply 

 pigmented grooves between the swellings (PL xli., fig. 68). 

 The proximal swellings are shorter and less rounded than 

 the distal, due, perhaps, to differences of contraction. The 

 median tentacle has 17+n swellings ; it is iincomplete here, 

 the admedians 21 and the laterals 14, in addition, in each 

 case, to the cylindrical cirrophore. 



In another individual the numbers are 27, 21, and 12, and 

 in a third 25, 20, and 15. 



1. The dark tint ot this individual may he due to it having been pre- 

 served in the same tube as some other organism from which the pigment 

 has been dissolved and stained the worm ; for I have had specimens of 

 pale Echinids, which have been preserved with Comatulas, and have be- 

 come stained dark brown. 



