96 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 15 



Nephtys discors Ehlers 



Ehlers, 1868, pp. 626-629, pi. 23, figs. 39, 40; Hartman, 1938, p. 9, 



1 fig- 



Material examined. — Holotype specimen from Eastport, Maine, 

 collected by A. E. Verrill, October, 1863 and deposited in the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology. 



The original account was based on 2 lots, both from Maine; I have 

 reexamined specimen no. 700. It is large with proportions as described 

 by Ehlers. It grossly resembles large individuals of N. caeca (above) 

 and might easily be mistaken for the latter. In it the interramal cirri 

 are first present from segment 6 (Ehlers said 4) and continued back 

 to near the end of the body; they are cirriform and inscribe a recurved 

 spiral but are nowhere large ; they are best developed in the anterior third 

 of the body and hardly visible in the posterior half, thus different from 

 comparable ones in N. caeca where they continue large farther back. 

 Parapodial lobes are as shown by Ehlers (figs. 39, 40). 



Distally the proboscis has 10 pairs of bifid papillae and single mid- 

 dorsal and midventral ones, totalling 22. Subterminally there are 22 

 rows with 4 to 6 in a row; they diminish in size proximally and are 

 absent from the basal two-thirds of the proboscis; there is none distinct- 

 ly median. The proximal surface is covered with low, flat, wartlike 

 processes that diminish in size orally; nowhere is the surface smooth but 

 the processes are less conspicuous than those in N. caeca. 



Postacicular setae are fine, long and taper to a point ; the uppermost 

 and lowermost are nearly smooth ; those along the middle of the series 

 have delicate transverse rows of fine spinelets, with 6 to 8 points in a 

 row. Preacicular setae are fewer and much shorter though about equally 

 fine; they are transversely barred with individual bars wider than long 

 and closely spaced. Acicula are pale yellow, translucent, distally blunt 

 and straight. Furcate setae have not been identified. 



N. discors may represent a local form of N. caeca; the sharpest 

 differences are those in the reduced intercirri and the divergent para- 

 podial lobes. 



Distribution. — It is known only from Eastport, Maine. 



Nephtys punctata Hartman 



Hartman, 1938, pp. 155-156, fig. 67; Berkeley, 1942, p. 193. 

 Collections.— 1131-40 (1); 1182-40 (4); 1183-40 (3); 1195-40 

 (1); 1200-40 (1); 1201-40 (4); 1226-41 (1); 1227-41 (2); 1228-41 

 (1) ; 1229-41 (1) ; 1237-41 (2) ; 1314-41 (1). 



