POLYCH^TA. 311 



Sabellastarte indica, Sav. Plate VII., fit>'. 177a. 



Cf. Quatrefages, 1865, ' Hist. nat. des. Ann.,' ii., p. 432. 



A specimen from the pearl banks, upwards of 40 millims. long (without the gills) 

 by 7 millims. wide, inhabited a tube nearly twice its own length encrusted with sand. 

 The deciduous branchial crown together with the tentacular lacinise was present, but 

 thrown off. Projecting beyond the collar are two collapsible buccal lobes, evidently 

 protruded by fluid pressure from within. At the ventral sides of the thoracic tori 

 purple streaks occur, and similar streaks occur towards the dorsal border of the tori. 

 In the abdominal region these streaks are replaced by minute spots. The gills are 

 banded. The thorax is composed of eight segments with seven pairs of tori ; the 

 setse, of all the fascicles alike, are limbate capillaries. 



Another specimen labelled "No. 80, Sabella fusca, Grube, orange-bodied Sabella, 

 on under side of boulder, Galle lagoon, off Breffit, 7th June, 1902," is larger and 

 darker; 100 millims. long (without the gills), 10 millims. wide; body subcylindrical 

 in front, more flattened behind. Gills very dark ; inner surface of collar with black- 

 purple band and a patch of the same colour on the outer surface of the dorsal 

 portions of the collar.* In frontal view of the buccal crown the two buccal lobes 

 described above are seen, though not protruding to the same extent (Plate VII., 

 fig. 177a). 



Sabellastarte indica, var. quinquevalens, nov. Plate VII., fig. 177. 



Another specimen, brought up by the divers from Muttuvaratu Paar, inhabited a 

 membranous tube coated with fine mud. Total length 100 millims., of which 

 35 millims. belong to the branchiae; more than 140 segments. The thorax is 

 composed of six segments with five pairs of uncinigerous tori. The uncini are 

 uniserial and show numerous denticles above the main tooth, presenting, in frontal 

 view, a finely cross-hatched appearance, in side view a series of 8-10 minute rows on 

 the vertex of the hook (Plate VII., fig. 177). Width of the thorax 8 o millims., of 

 the anterior abdominal region 7 millims. Branchiae banded with purple, the radioles 

 or stipes in two rows, but the bases of all show through the basal membrane. The 

 radioles of the two rows are roughly alternate, though the outer row contains more 

 than the inner. Terminal filaments of gill-stipes short ; gill-filaments biserial. 

 Collar with broad purple submarginal band on inner surface, as in the typical 

 examples. It seems likely that S. indica is co-specific with Grube's S. spectabilis 

 ('Ann. Semp.,' p. 253) and even with Marenzeller's Laonome japonica (' Siidjapan. 

 Ann.,' ii., 1884, p. 16). See also St. Joseph, "Ann. de Dinard," 'Ann. Sci. Nat,,' 

 xvii., 1894, p. 249. The number of thoracic segments is known to be subject to 

 individual variations. The collar is notched below by a median incisura ventralis. 



* Similar colour-markings occur on the collar of the first example. 



