The ArenicoliJce of South Africa. 17 



recorded from Saldanha Bay and False Bay, collected by Professor 

 J. D. F. Gilchrist. These are the only records of the capture of 

 this species. 



AFFINITIES OF AEENICOLA LOVENI KINBEEG. 



The affinities of this species with other caudate species of the 

 genus may now be determined. There are so few features in which 

 A. loveni agrees with A. claparedii Levinsen, A. assimilis Ehlers 

 (and its variety affinis Ashworth), and A. glacialis Murdoch, that we 

 may conclude that Kinberg's species is not nearly related to any of 

 these. A. loveni has certain features in common with A. marina 

 (Linnaeus) and A. cristata Stimpson, for instance, elongate neuro- 

 podia and a single pair of oesophageal glands ; in these three species 

 a pinnate type of gill occurs, though in most examples of A. marina 

 that is, in the littoral variety the gill is bushy, the pinnate type 

 of gill being found only in examples from the lower tidal zone that 

 is, in the Larninarian variety. A. loveni and A. marina also agree in 

 regard to the number of their segments and gills, but they differ in 

 the number of their nephridia and the nature of their septal pouches, 

 statocysts and statoliths. Important points of agreement (besides 

 those named above) between A. loveni and A. cristata are presented 

 by their closed statocyst and single statolith, and by their pro- 

 stomium ; moreover, the septal pouches of A. cristata, while not 

 nearly so large as those of A. loveni, more nearly approach the latter 

 in size than do those of any other species. In the characters of its 

 setae, both notopodial and neuropodial, A. loveni presents a closer 

 approach to A. cristata than to any other species. The chief 

 differences between A. loveni and A. cristata are in regard to the 

 number of segments (nineteen and seventeen respectively), gills 

 (thirteen and eleven pairs respectively), and nephridia (five and six 

 pairs respectively). 



The systematic position of A. loveni may be stated thus : There is 

 no affinity, beyond a generic one, between A. loveni &nd A. claparedii, 

 assimilis and glacialis. In its general external appearance A. loveni 

 most nearly resembles the large Laminarian examples of A. marina, 

 but in its prostomium and setae and in some of its internal organs, 

 especially its septal pouches and statocysts, it departs markedly 

 from A. marina and much more nearly approaches A. cristata, from 

 which it differs chiefly in the number of its segments and gills. These 

 facts indicate that the affinities of A. loveni lie between A. marina 

 and A. cristata, but more closely to the latter than to the former. 



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