350 



PART II. SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT 



ti 



ft 





в 



C4j . 



breadth of the mesosoma, 0-32-04 mm; length of the metameric part of the 

 metasoma, 3-6 mm; length of the total preannular region of the metasoma, 

 20 mm; length of the postannular section, 27-5 mm; overall length of the 

 body, 54 mm. 



The rings of the elastic, pale golden- 

 brown tube are almost regular, with more 

 or less even edges, and often anastomose 

 with each other. Their length is about a 

 third to half the diameter of the tube, 

 while the clear, more or less transparent 

 intervals between them are much nar- 

 rower (Fig. 144Z)). An incomplete tube is 

 c. 100 mm long, with a diameter of up to 

 0-45 mm. 



H. beringensis is distinguished by the 

 comparatively large number of tentacles 

 (12-13). It is like H. gracilis in possessing 

 secondary rings on the front part of the 

 mesosoma, but differs in having not one 

 but two of these, and also in the disorder 

 of the papillae of the zone of thickening. 

 As in the majority of species of Hepta- 

 brachia, the cuticular plaques of the ad- 

 hesive papillae are oval. 



Material: two females. 



Locality: the southwest part of the Ber- 

 ing Sea. 



Depth: 1693 and 3789 m. 



Fig. 144. Heptabrachia beringensis: 

 A - cuticular plaques from the meta- 

 meric part of the preannular region 

 of the metasoma ; В - the same from 

 the zone of thickened papillae ; С - 

 the same from the postannular 

 region of the metasoma ; D - tube. 



[5. Heptabrachia talboti (E. C. Southward) (Figs. A, B144) 

 Southward, 1961b: 47-52, Figs. 1,2. 



The tubes are brown and stiff anteriorly, white and soft posteriorly. Their 

 diameter is a little greater at the anterior end. The tube of the holotype is 

 0-46 mm in diameter at the anterior end and 0-41 mm posteriorly, while the 

 variation among the empty tubes is from 0-34 to 0-56 mm. The longest tube 

 is not complete and is 13 cm long. The anterior part of the tube is marked 

 with wide brown rings, separated by narrower yellow rings (Fig. k\AAA), but 



