82 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 25 



at the tip, which is paler and extends distally slightly beyond the 

 parapodial lobe. In postbranchial segments the setae diminish in number 

 and are accompanied by comb-setae and subacicular spines. The comb 

 setae number 3 to 5 in a fascicle and are located just above the acicula ; 

 they are flaring distally and terminate in an oblique straight edge with 

 8 to 10 coarse striations (PI. 10, fig. 2). Composite spinigers (PI. 10, 

 fig. 3) have a shaft ending in a thick, knoblike smooth, or slightly 

 spinous articulation, and a slender, knifelike appendage tapering to a 

 slender tip. Subacicular setae are first present in postbranchial segments, 

 located at the inferior ends of the setal fascicles ; they occur singly in 

 a parapodium, are black at the base and fade distally; they are acicular 

 or slightly curved. 



The maxillary apparatus is well developed. The ventral mandibles 

 are white and broadly flaring at their free ends. The maxillae include 

 a pair of long forceps ( = maxilla I) ; II has 7 teeth right and 5 teeth 

 left; III has none right and 7 left; IV has 6 right and 3 left, and V is a 

 small flat plate on either side. 



Some individuals (from Sta. 4817) are enclosed in a tube, resembling 

 that of Diopatra ornata Moore, but less ornamented externally and 

 more closely fitting the body of the specimen. The body is flesh colored, 

 has a narrow reddish brown stripe extending across the dorsum of each 

 segment at segmental grooves; immature specimens have little or no 

 pigment pattern. 



Marphysa disjuncta differs from other species from California as 

 indicated in the key above. It bears a resemblance to M. bellii (Audouin 

 and Milne Edwards) from France, which also has branchiae abruptly 

 present on a few anterior segments (see Fauvel, 1923, p. 410), but the 

 latter has falcigerous, not spinigerous composite setae, and the pro- 

 stomium is anteriorly rounded, not incised. 



M. disjuncta has been found most abundant south of Point Conception 

 to Ventura light, California, in depths of 28 to 48 meters, in sediments 

 of green silt to medium green sand, and in temperatures of 11 to 15 °C. 

 Grab samples taken from such bottoms averaging 45 to 60 liters of 

 sediments, have yielded up to 35 larger specimens of M. disjuncta, and 

 many other wormlike animals. These include Listriolobus pelodes Fisher, 

 an echiuroid, Glycera robusta Johnson, Diopatra ornata Moore, No- 

 tocirrus calif orniensis Hartman, Pista disjuncta Moore, Ceratocephala 

 crosslandi americana Hartman, Poecilochaetus johnsoni Hartman, Di- 

 soma franciscanum Hartman, Cossura Candida Hartman, Prionospio 



