JAPANESE PALOLO, CEKATOCEPHALE OSAWAI, N. SP. ö 



and the îSoutli Pacific the process occurs in the mornings upon 

 or near the day of the last quarter of the moon, but the former 

 in June-July, and the latter in the months of October and 

 November. Whereas, in the case of the Japanese " Palolo," 

 the swarming takes place during nights closely following the 

 new and the full moon in October and November. Details 

 of my observations of this phenomenon will be given further 

 on, and as to particulars about the breeding habits of the 

 other " Palolo " the reader is referred to the literature of the 

 subject. 



With respect to the systematic position of the Japanese 

 " Palolo," it seems to come nearest to Ceratocephale Mgrn., which 

 genus has hitherto been represented by a single species from 

 Swedish shores, C. loveni Mgrn.* Among its points of agreement 

 with that genus and species, are the facts that the proboscis is 

 provided with papillae but not with paragnathea, and that the 

 parapodium lacks the upper ligula on the dorsal ramus and shows 

 similarly shaped setose bristles on the inferior ramus. All these 

 characters may serve to distinguish it from the closely related 

 Nereis, although it resembles this genus, in disagreement with 

 Ceratocephale loveni, in the fact that the ventral cirri are simple 

 instead of being bifid. Taken as a whole, I have preferred, 

 tentatively at least, to refer "the Japanese Palolo" to MalmgPvEn's 

 genus Ceratocephale rather than to Nereis or to creating a new 

 genus for its reception. 



At all events it is certain that the species is a new one, 

 and I take pleasure in naming it Ceratocephale osaivai in honour 



* A. G. Malmokkn, Annulata Polychaeta, 1867.— Possibly another species of the genus 

 is represented by the specimens from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, noted upon by Mc'IntosH 

 (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, X., 1902, p. 258). 



