386 Transactions. 



Art. XXXVIII. — Notes on New Zealand Polychaeta (II). 

 By Professor W. B. Benham, D.Sc, F.R.S., Hutton Memorial Medallist. 

 [^Read before the Otago InMitute, 7th September, 1915.] 



Fam. EuNiciDAE. 



Eunice pycnobranchiata Mclntosli, " Challenger " Reports, xii, 1885, 

 p. 294. 



Eunice antennata Eblers, Neuseeland. Annelid., ii, 1907, p. 12 {nee 

 E. antennata Savigny). 

 Amongst tlie Eunicids in the " Endeavour "collection from the Australian 

 seas which was submitted to me for description were a good number of 

 specimens of this species, and in comparing them with the species from 

 our coasts it became evident that they are identical with the worm which 

 Ehlers has recorded under the title " E. antennata Sav." from specimens 

 sent to him by me, of which I retain duplicates. But this identification 

 does not accord with Crossland's* investigation into the true E. antennata 

 from the Red Sea, for the latter worm has golden acicular chaetae, and 

 the gills meet almost across the back where fully developed ; whereas in 

 the New Zealand worms these chaetae are black, and the gills are small, 

 as they are in Mcintosh's species, with which it agrees in other respects. 

 For a fuller discussion of the matter see my accountf of the " Endeavour " 

 Polychaeta, pp. 216 and 224. 



When* writing that report I had forgotten the fact that Ehlers had 

 identified his E. antennata with Quatrefages' E. gaimardi. But of this I 

 feel sceptical, for when I was engaged in working out the New Zealand 

 Annelids, some twelve to fourteen years ago, I tabulated the characters 

 given by Quatrefages to his two species from New Zealand — namely, 

 E. gaimardi and E. australis — and compared these with our two common 

 species of Eunice. I came to the conclusion at the time — which I see no 

 reason now to alter — that it is impossible from the data given to identify 

 either of our two common species with either of these two descriptions. 



The only difference which may be regarded as of importance referred 

 to by Quatrefages is the character of the jaws. In E. gaiynardi the upper 

 jaw — i.e., forceps, or " Zangen " of Ehlers — is described as " gracilis." The 

 large dental plate (his upper jaw) has 6 teeth, and the denticula — i.e., 

 " Sageplatte " — are imdulations rather than teeth. . On the other hand, he 

 states that the upper jaw of E. australis is " robust," the dental plate 

 has 10 teeth, and the denticula are dentate. 



Ehlers (p. 31) says of E. australis that " der linke Zahn hat 5, der rechte 6, 

 die unpaare Sageplatte^ 10," &c., and describes the forceps as slender — 

 " die Zangen schlanke " — which can scarcely be a translation of Quatre- 

 fages' words, " maxillae superae rohustae." Ehlers' " slender forceps " would 

 equally apply to those of E. pycnobranchiata. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, i, 1904, p. 316. 



t Biolog. Results of Fishing Experiments of F.I.S. " Endeavour," 1909-14, vol. iii. 

 Commonwealth of Australia : Fisheries Department, 1915. 



