204 MISCELLANEOUS. 
not, and others approximate it to the Sipunculus with as little reason. 
This matter might be elucidated perhaps by dissection. 
The figure can be explained better by the representation than by 
any description. Length seven or eight inches ; thickness in the middle 
about half an inch. The anterior extremity nearly three quarters in its 
longest diameter. The body may be described as consisting of three 
parts ;—the anterior, a. called the gland, swelling and longitudinally sul- 
cated or striated ; the middle, 4. annulated : and the tail, c. composed of 
a series of moveable filaments, and tapering to the extremity. The mouth 
is in the centre of the anterior extremity, and the vent, d. at that part of 
the body where there are some tuberculated rings at the origin of the 
filamentous tail. Some animals are pure white, others faint dingy yellow. 
This animal dwells in various parts of the Scotish seas: the finest 
having come from Shetland, where it lives in a foul muddy bottom. I 
found one, however, towards three inches long, considerably above low 
water, under the stones of the shore, not far from Granton Pier, in the 
estuary of the Forth. But specimens are said to be everywhere of rare 
occurrence. 
I have provided specimens with a quantity of fine sand in their 
vessels, which they never penetrated. 
The animal is always full of a blackish matter ; and portions of a 
soft or thready faecal substance have been discharged. A specimen like 
Plate XXXV. fig. 2. discharged a vermicular substance extending three 
inches, which, at the time, I conjectured to be some worm that it had 
swallowed. The state of such substances prevents their nature from 
being clearly recognised. 
PLATE XXXV. 
Fic. 1. Priapulus caudatus. Anterior extremity, a; middle, 6; posterior, ¢ ; 
vent, d. 
2. Another specimen. 
