POLYCHAETE WORMS, PART 1 13 



flated at the tips. Prostomium with nonpigmented ocular peduncles. 

 Neuropodium long, slender, with few stout brownish neurosetae 

 arranged in three rows. Notosetae of cirrigerous segments composed 

 of several divergent clusters of light-colored transparent capillary 

 setae, some rather thick basally. 



On elytragerous segments, notosetae composed of: (1) Fan-shaped 

 upper group of light yellow, slender setae with capillary tips, the 

 feltage setae; (2) fan-shaped lower group of stout, dark-brownish, 

 spinelike protective setae with pointed harpoon-shaped tips with 

 several recmwed barbs (fig. Ic); (3) groups of fine capillary setae 

 arranged basally and ventrally to the stout protective setae. 



Biology. — Dredged on bottoms of mud and fine sand, often at con- 

 siderable depths. Restricted mostly to the open sea. Taken from 

 the stomach of the tile fish (Moore, Ms.). 



Material examined. — Numerous specimens from off Newfound- 

 land and south of Anticosti Island in Gulf of St. Lawrence to off 

 North Carolina, in 19 to 2,620 fathoms. 



Distribution. — Davis Strait and west Greenland, Iceland, North 

 Atlantic to West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, Australia. In 19 to 

 2,620 fathoms. 



Genus Aphrodita Linne, 1758 



Type (designated by Malmgren, 1867, p. 3): Aphrodita aculeata 

 Linne, 1758. Contains only one New England species. 



Aphrodita hastata Moore, 1905 



Figure 2 



Aphrodite aculeata Verrill, 1881, pp. 288, 290, 297, 300, 303, 306, 307, 311, 323, 



pi. 3, fig. 1. — Not A. aculeata LiniK'-, 1758. 

 Aphrodita aculeata Webster and Benedict, 1884, p. 699; 1887, p. 708. — Treadwell, 



1948, p. 12, fig. 2c.— Not A. aculeata Linne, 1758. 

 Aphrodita hastata Moore, 1905, p. 294, figs. 1-4. — Sumner, Osburn, and Cole, 



1913, p. 619.— Procter, 1933, p. 136.— Pratt, 1951, p. 327, fig. 488. 



Description. — Length up to 150 mm. (up to 230 mm., Procter, 

 1933), width including setae up to 75 mm., segments 40-41. Dorsum 

 completely covered with a grayish feltage composed of a tangled mass 

 of capillary notosetae and mud. Elytra 15 pairs, large, smooth. 

 Prostomium with short median antenna and pair of sessile pigmented 

 areas. Neuropodium stout, with light to dark amber-colored neuro- 

 setae arranged in three rows; neurosetae stout basally, tapering 

 gradually to sharp tips (ma}?^ be blunt due to wear). 



Notopodium bearing 3 kinds of setae: (1) Lateral group of highly 

 iridescent capillary setae, yellowish (in younger individuals) to red- 

 dish bronzy (in larger individuals ; in A. aculeata, this group is bronzy 



