of the Fingered Na'is (Proto digitata) in England. 395 



represented in the annexed figures only when the worm is 

 stationary : if it be withdrawn from its habitation, and put 

 into a vessel of clean water, the fingers will close ; and then the 

 only difference between the appearance of the posterior and 

 anterior extremity consists in the former being the more obtuse. 



Fig. 1. 

 Fig. 2, 



Proto digitata (the Fingered Na'is), about the natural size. 

 The same, magnified. 



[After Miiller.] 



What is the exact position of this Annelid in the animal king- 

 dom ? Miiller draws attention to the fact that in the general 

 form of the body, which is furnished with lateral setae, it resem- 

 bles the Na'is ; but in the possession of a digitiform tail, in its 

 manner of living, and in its having red blood, it is unlike mem- 

 bers of that genus. Grube has noticed the link which this spe- 

 cies forms between the Na'is and the Serpula. I regret I am 

 unable to contribute anything of value in the notice of this 

 curious Annelid beyond the bare fact of establishing for it an 

 undoubted right to claim a place in the British fauna. But this 

 short notice of its occurrence in England may be the means of 

 drawing the attention of British naturalists to a very interesting 

 form of Annelid life. 



I subjoin Miiller's description of this worm : — 



" Oculorum defectu, capite in limo condito, corpore et cauda digi- 

 tata exsertis, venaque rubra a congeneribus differt. Cauda apice 

 in sex lacinias subsequales, digitiformes, non granulatas dividitur. 



26* 



