POLYCH.^TA. — BENHAM. 161 



Genus Protulopsis, St. Joseph. 



Protulopsis palliata, Willey. 



(Pi. xlviii., figs. 51-55.) 



Protulopsis palliata, Willey, Ceylon Pearl Oyster Fisheries, 

 pt. iv., Suppl. Rep., XXX., — Polychaeta, 1905, p. 316. 



A single female specimen of a worm in its tube. The worm 

 measures 21 mm. excluding the gills, which are 6 mm. in 

 length, and the thorax 6 mm. ; the diameter is 2 mm. More 

 or less cylindrical anteriorly, the body becomes flat at the 

 hinder end, where the long capillary bristles project from each 

 side to a distance equal to the width of the body. There is a 

 dorsal gland at this hinder end. 



There is little to add to Willey 's account ; the fact that the 

 tori uncinigeri commence in the fourth cha^tigerous segment 

 is confirmed. 



There are two curious structures on the base of the gill- 

 support, one on the dorsal, the other on the ventral face. 



Dorsally, the low transverse dorsal lobe of the collar seems 

 to be continued forwards over the base of the gill as an irregu- 

 lar folded membrane as far as the origin of the radioles ; this 

 membrane is broadly adherent to the gill-base (PI. xlviii., fig. 

 53), and I take it to be " the wide lappet, which is rolled 

 upon itself," described by Willey as occurring in the Ceylon 

 species. He further suggests that it " is probably able to 

 follow the branchial spire to its termination," a statement 

 which I don't quite understand. If, however, I am correct 

 in ascribing the present worm to Willey's species, this 

 " lappet " certainly cannot do this ; it is by its adherence 

 limited to the gill-base. 



On the ventral face, there is on each side, well removed from 

 the collar, a fold of skin nearly semicircular in outline which 

 I do not remember to have seen figured or described previouslv 

 (PI. xlviii., fig. 52). 



The ventral lobe of the collar is very greatly developed, 

 forming a deep pouch in the preserved material with its 

 opening forwards. Its connection laterally with the palhum 

 or thoracic membrane is rather complex, and I have found it 

 difficult to analyse in the small specimen, in which, too, the 

 membranes very readily tear when touched. I have given 

 figures, which I beheve to be accurate representations of 

 their relations. 



