298 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [592] 
the body composed of numerous short segments, on which the feet are 
furnished with lamelliform appendages. 
This remarkable annelid bears some resemblance, in the structure of 
the body and “ feet,” to Heteronereis, and there is probably another form 
to which it bears the same relation that Heteronereis bears to Nereis; but 
the structure of the head is very unlike that of any known genus, and, 
indeed, would not allow it to be placed in the family of Nereide without 
modifying the family-characters. There are are no large palpi, corre- 
sponding to those of Nereis, and nothing to represent them, unless two 
small lobes close to the mouth be considered rudimentary palpi. 
NECTONEREIS MEGALOPS Verrill, sp. nov. Plate XII, figs. 62, 63. (p. 
440.) 
Body slender, consisting of two parts; the anterior portion, contain- 
ing fourteen setigerous segments, is broadest in the middle, tapering 
both ways, and separated from the posterior portion by a distinct con- 
striction; the posterior portion is much longer and more slender, taper- 
ing gradually to the end, and consists of very numerous short segments, 
which are furnished with complex lateral appendages, with thin lamelle 
and compound bladed sete. Head broad oval, somewhat convex, and 
very smooth above; the lateral margins a little convex; the front 
obtusely rounded. Eyes very large, convex; the anterior ones largest, 
lateral and partially dorsal, oval; in contact with the posterior ones, 
which are somewhat smaller and more dorsal. Two small decurved 
antenne, with swollen bases, are on the ventral side of the head; two 
small, rounded processes in front of the mouth. Tentacular cirri 
slender, the upper pair much the longest; the rather short lower pair 
arising near the mouth; the two intermediate pairs arise behind and 
close to the anterioreyes; all are slightly annulated. The “feet” on the 
first seven segments have a large dorsal cirrus, increasing in length 
from the first to the seventh, narrow at base, swollen and gibbous 
toward the end, with a slender, oblique, terminal portion; on the seven 
following segments the dorsal cirri are smaller, slender, tapering; 
the ventral cirri are small, with swollen bases on the first five seg- 
ments, slender and tapering on the rest; the intermediate lobes of the 
feet are small and rounded, but more elongated on the first five seg- 
ments. Sete of different forms, many of them with a slender, often 
curved, acute terminal piece. 
The lateral appendages of the posterior region have, on the upper 
ramus, a long, slender dorsal cirrus, strongly crenulate-lobed on the 
lower side; a small, rounded lamelliform process above its base; and a 
long, lanceolate process arising just below it, and in length equaling 
the cirrus ; an ovate setigerous lobe, bearing a broad fan-shaped fascicle 
of compound set, extending about to the end of the dorsal cirrus; 
and a lower ovate-lanceolate lamelliform process, with the base expanded 
and extending backward, the tip reaching to about the outer third of 
