192 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



The present specimens are in poor condition, but I am able partly to supplement my 

 previous account of this species. There appears to be no palmar membrane. There are 

 only five thoracic chaetigers as in Josephella marenzelleri. The thoracic membrane is 

 short, arising betvv^een the 2nd and 3rd chaetigers and fusing with the collar anteriorly. 

 The collar is high, folded and apparently without incisions. In the mid- ventral line it 

 sends forward a long, pointed tongue. Moreover, again as in Josephella, there appears 

 to be an achaetous region between thorax and abdomen almost as long as the thorax 

 itself. 



It seems very doubtful whether this species is capable of inclusion within Vermiliopsis, 

 but I am unwilling to establish a new genus on material so poor. 



Genus Spirobranchus, Blainville 

 Opercular peduncle winged. Operculum ending in one or more flat calcareous plates 

 with or without a terminal group of branched spines. Collar bristles bayonet-shaped 

 with a finely hirsute edge. Abdominal bristles trumpet-shaped. Hooks with numerous 

 teeth. 



Spirobranchus latiscapus (Marenzeller) . 



Pomatostegus latiscapus, Marenzeller, 1885, p. 218, pi. iv, fig. 5 a-d. 

 Spirobranchus latiscapus, Benham, 1916, p. 158, pi. xlviii, figs. 46-50. 

 Augener, 1926, p. 272. 



Occurrence. St. 941, New Zealand (2). 



Specific characters. Of these specimens one measures 23 mm. by 3 mm. : the other 

 is immature and measures 9 mm. by i mm. The opercular pedicle is winged. The 

 operculum consists of one to five thin calcareous plates set one above the other in a pile. 

 There are no spines or processes. Sometimes as in the smaller of the present specimens 

 there is only a single plate. Collar chaetae of two kinds, (i) with a short wide striated 

 fin-like process at the base of the narrow anterior blade ; (2) simple capillary bristles. 

 The collar is entire ventrally and sends forward a folded extension in the mid-ventral 

 line. It is incised dorso-laterally and forms a pair of small dorsal lobes. These are 

 covered by the very large rounded lobes which are the anterior portion of the thoracic 

 membrane. 



The uncini have about a dozen teeth in addition to the basal gouge ; they are slightly 

 smaller in the abdomen than in the thorax. The abdominal chaetae are trumpet-shaped. 



Remarks. I have with some hesitation followed Benham and Augener in transferring 

 this species from Pomatostegus to Spirobranchus. In Ehlers's view, the chief distinction 

 between the two genera is the presence in Pomatostegus of abdominal sickle or Salmacina 

 bristles and in Spirobranchus of abdominal trumpet bristles. On this ground the trans- 

 ference is justified, but consistency will then demand the transference of the well-known 

 European Pomatostegus polytrema (Philippi), also with trumpet-shaped abdominal 

 chaetae, to Spirobranchus. At any rate polytrema cannot remain in Pomatostegus. In my 

 view the genera in the Serpulids are too narrowly drawn and it will eventually be found 



