POLYCHiETA OF THE L.M.B.C. DISTRICT. 161 



spelled wrongly '* circinnata.'' As Marenzeller points out 

 {loc. cit.) Fabricius called the branchiae " cincinni " (locks 

 of crisped hair) hence the species " cincinnata." It is the 

 Venusia punctata of Johnston. 



*NicoIea venustida, (Montagu). 



Hab: 12, 13, 14, i.e, the central area of the Irish Sea. 



Dredgings in deep water (20 — 22 fms.) usually yield 

 specimens of this worm — the N. zoster icola of Malmgren. 



The species seems subject to frequent variation in 

 the number of bristle tufts and of branchiae. Malmgren 

 defines it as having 2 pairs of branchiae and 15 pairs of 

 bristle-bundles; Tauber {Ann. clanica) gives 16 — 17 pairs 

 of the latter and 3 pairs of the former. Again, E. 

 Leuckart's T. parvida { = N. venustida, Mont.) is endowed 

 with 15 pairs of bristle bundles and 3 pairs of branchiae, 

 while Marenzeller who first pointed out the agreement 

 of N. zostericola, Malmgren, with the Terehella venustula, 

 Mont., diagnoses the same species, from specimens 

 gathered both at St. Malo and in the Adriatic as possessing 

 17 bristle-bearing fascicles and 2 pairs of branchiae.* Fin- 

 ally all of the individuals I have examined from the Irish 

 Sea have had the characters as given by the last named 

 author, with the exception of two half-grown ones which 

 differed in having 15 pairs of fascicles. 



Family. — Ampharetid^e. 



*Aiiipharete gruhei, Malmgren. 



Hab : Station 14. A single specimen. 



Two species of the genus Ampharete have previously 

 been reported as British, viz : — A. gracdis, and A. arctica. 

 The former is characterized according to Malmgren — by 

 elongated filiform branchiae and apex of palmular setae 

 much attenuated ; the latter by stout short branchiae, the 

 palmular seta3 havmg a mucronate apex. The present 



* Zur Keiiutuibs tier Achiat. Ainicliden. 



