14^ Dr. Johnston on British Nereides. 



cirri on eacli side, the superior longer than the inferior, submo- 

 niliform : segments very numerous, short, or about as broad as 

 long ; the foot obtuse, undivided, furnished with a single fascicle 

 of colourless bristles, which are jointed and curved near the 

 pointed apex ; the spine conical, straight : superior cirrus at least 

 three times the breadth of the body in length, becoming gra- 

 dually shorter near the tail, slightly tapered, submoniliform : in- 

 ferior cirrus not projecting much beyond the foot, conical, undi- 

 vided : styles of the tail elongate. 



Length 2 inches ; breadth about a line. 



This worm is not uncommon. The specimen figured was found 

 among some shells and stones which had been brought up from 

 deep water by the lines of the fishermen. It may be compared, 

 so far as external appearance goes, with the subterranean Geo- 

 philus : its motion is moderately quick and efiected in the usual 

 way. 



To the Scyllis monilaris of Savigny this species is evidently 

 nearly allied, and indeed I find no characters to distinguish it 

 excepting the deeply-lobed front, and the greater comparative 

 elongation of the superior cirri, which, in the figure of S. monilaris 

 given by Audouin and Edwards (Hist. Nat. du Litt. de la Prance, 

 ii. pi. 4 B. fig. 1 — 5), scarcely exceed the breadth of the body. By 

 the same characters S. armillaris is separated from the S. fulgu- 

 vans. I have no opportunity of comparing ours with figures of 

 any of the other species of the genus indicated by Audouin and 

 Edwards. Miiller^s figures of this species are very good. 



Any one acquainted with Annelides will at once be led, from 

 their great development and form, to conjecture that the frontal 

 lobes of this worm are analogous to the exterior antennae of the 

 Nereis ; and it may be considered as giving support to the opinion 

 of Blainville, who had come to this conclusion from the exami- 

 nation of species in which their development is much less re- 

 markable, and where there was little coincidence in their figure. 



Plate IX. fig. 1. Syllis armillaris, natural size. Fig. 2. The same mag- 

 nified. Fig. 2 h. The head more highly magnified. 



2. S.prolifera ; yellowish-brown, unspotted ; head semicircular 

 in front, entire ; superior cirri scarcely twice the breadth of the 

 body, very obscurely jointed, not moniliform. (Plate IX. figs. 3, 4.) 



Nereis prolifera. Mull. Zool. Dan. tab. ^2. fig. 5 — 9, copied in 

 Encyclop.Meth. Vers, pi. 56. fig. 12 — 15. Turt. Gmel. iv. 90. 

 Bosc, Vers, i. 174. Audouin et Edw. in Ann. des So. Nat. xxix. 

 231. note 3 ; and Hist, du Litt. de la France, ii. p. 209. note 3. 



Hab. Amongst corallines in deep water. Berwick Bay. 



Desc. Body rather more than half an inch in length, scolo- 

 pendriform, roundish, of a yellowish-brown colour : head small, 



