REPORT ON THE GEPHYREAN PRIAPULUS. 

 CLASS GEPHYREA. 



Order PRIAPULOIDA. 



Family PRIAPULID.E. 



Genus Priapulus, Lamarck. 



Priapulus caudatus, Lamarck. 



Pria'pulus caudatus, Lamarck, Anim. sans Vertebres, iii., 

 1801, p. 467. 



Priapulus caudatus, Lamarck, var. antarcticus, Miohaelsen, 

 Jahrb. Hanibm'g. Wiss. Anstalt., vi., 1889, p. 10. 



A single specimen of this species was received, but without 

 any indication of the locality at which it was obtained. 



It has already been recorded from Antarctic seas, and the 

 variety antarcticiis differs from the specific type only in the 

 ventral interruption of the circles of pre-branchial papilla\ 

 The same feature has been noted in some of the varieties from 

 the northern hemisphere, which were originally regarded as 

 distinct sjjecies by Ehlers, so that the value of this feature in 

 the southern forms is of no weight as a varietal character. 



The matter has been discussed by Shipley, i Fischer,^ and 

 Storikow,^ so that there is no need for me to do more than put 

 the occurrence on record. But it appears that Priapulus has 

 not hitherto been obtained in the southern hemisphere so far 

 north as this must have been, for the " Endeavour " did not 

 go into the Antarctic circle. 



Loc. — Not recorded. 



Distribution. — Greenland ; Spitzbergen ; North Sea ; 

 Magellan Strait ; South Georgia ; Falkland Islands ; Ker- 

 guelen ; Cape Adare. 



1. Shipley — " Southern Cross " Collections, Gephviea, 1902, p. 284. 



2. Fischer — Abhandl. aus. d. Gebiete d. Naturwiss., xiii., 1895, p. 22 ; 

 Id., Fischer, Hamburg. Sammelreise magalhaens., Cephyrea, 1895, p. 0. 



3. Storikow — Zoo). Anzeig., xxv., 1902, p. 1.55. 



