156 " ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



The species is one of the giants in the family. Three indi- 

 viduals were received by me ; two were still within the 

 tube, the third fortunately had been removed and was in 

 consequence well preserved. 



I may add a few notes in supplement of the diagnostic 

 description by Marenzeller. 



The worm measures 168 mm. in length over all, of which 

 the gills occupy 45 mm., but this is not their true length, for 

 they are much contracted and twisted. In a second indi- 

 vidual, measured in the tube, the body is 126 mm. long and 

 the gills less twisted add 60 mm. to this. The gills are, thus, 

 approximately half as long as the body. The thorax is 1 1 mm. 

 in length, 10 mm. in width, and 7 mm. in height. In this 

 individual there are only seven chsetigerous segments, the 

 first segment being without any chaetae ; the uncini commence 

 with the dorsal bristles on the second segment. Another 

 specimen exhibited a still greater degree of almormality, for 

 it has only four bundles of chaetse with the uncini below, 

 although the ventral gland shields and intersegmental furrows 

 indicate the normal eight segments. In this case the 1st, 

 3rd, 4th and 8th are without chaetse. 



The abdomen contains more than 200 segments, with an 

 anterior diameter of 10 mm. ; it is flat ventrally, much arched 

 dorsally, but further backwards the arching decreases till in 

 the hinder half of the body the dorsal surface is nearly as fiat 

 as the ventral. The diameter is pretty uniform throughout, 

 till close in front of the hinder end, when it rather suddenly 

 tapers, the end being rounded. 



As Marenzeller finds, the fjsecal groove does not cease at 

 the hinder end of the thorax, but is traceable as an ill-defined 

 shallow furrow along the dorsal surface forwards, in a curved 

 line towards the median dorsal depression, Avhich lies just 

 behind the collar-gap anteriorly. The groove would probably 

 disappear in soft specimens ; it is recognisable in this well- 

 preserved individual owing to the shght irregular foldings 

 of the skin. A similar but narrower furrow symmetrical 

 with it exists on the left side. 



The general colour of the worm is pale brown with a purplish 

 tint ; on the thorax this tint is produced by minute dots 

 of pigment, which are especially aggregated above the 

 notopodia, thus producing a broad purphsh band, which 

 extends on to the posterior face of the collar lobes and on 

 to the branchial base. The gills themselves are uniformly 

 pale brown, without any purphsh tint, as also are the edge 

 and anterior face of the collar. 



