NEMERTEANS 



FROM THE SOUTH ATLANTIC AND 

 SOUTHERN OCEANS 



By J. F. G. Wheeler, d.Sc. 



Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc. 



(Plates XV, XVI ; text-figs. 1-66) 



INTRODUCTION 



A large number of the Nemerteans described in this report were examined alive 

 directly after capture, and whenever opportunity occurred they were sketched to 

 show form and colour. This applies particularly to the littoral species from Saldanha 

 Bay, South Africa, and King Edward Cove, South Georgia, where I was engaged on 

 whaling investigations as a member of the Discovery Committee's scientific staff at 

 different periods from 1925 to 193 1. Many other specimens were collected in the nets 

 of the R.R.S. 'Discovery', R.R.S. 'Discovery II', and R.S.S. 'William Scoresby' in the 

 course of the investigations. Other members of the staff found time to make sketches 

 of unusual forms, although opportunities were far less frequent at sea, and on most 

 occasions a note of the colour and markings had to suffice. 



I wish to express my thanks to Dr Kemp, Director of Research, for his interest and 

 for allowing me to work on the group, to my former colleagues who took especial care 

 in the collection of specimens, and to Professor D. M. S. Watson, who very kindly 

 placed a room and the facilities of his department at my disposal for the completion of 

 the work. That this has been accomplished I owe to my wife who prepared the hundreds 

 of sections — those necessary for comparison with the observations of other workers and 

 those to complete our knowledge of particular species and to make the fullest possible 

 use of the collection. 



METHODS 



The frequent collections of Nemerteans at South Georgia and from the whaling 

 station at Saldanha Bay were not recorded under station numbers. Most of them were 

 shore collections made in the interval between other work. The dates on which they 

 were made are included in the systematic account. At South Georgia a kelp grapnel 

 made of three shark hooks lashed together was used for tearing kelp roots from the 

 bottom. This was found to be a more efficacious method of capturing undamaged 

 specimens than the dredge or small trawl. The worms collected at sea were taken in a 

 variety of nets to which a key is given below. 



The animals sketched and noted in life were preserved and numbered N 1, N 2, N 3 



