LEPIDONOTUS. 



115 



all bi-articiilate, swollen near the apex, which is acutely pointed. 

 Palpi two, setaceous, with a suddenly acuminated point, paler 

 coloured, stouter, and twice as long as the antennae, somewhat 

 annular. Tentacular cirri two pairs, similar to the medial antenna, 

 the bulb ringed with black, the acute points pale. Scales fifteen 

 pairs, imbricate, ovate or kidiiey-shaped, the anterior nearly circular, 

 variously coloured and dotted, convex towards the centre, smooth 

 to the naked eye*, but really roughish, with scattered short spines 

 or processes visible only in certain lights or near the margin ; they 

 are attached to the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 1 3th, 15th, 1 7th, 

 19th, 2 1st, 23rd, 26t\i, 29th and 32nd segments by mammillary 

 tubercles, considerably larger than the alternating branchial ones, 

 and when removed, the back appears spotted over the base of the 

 feet, the spots becoming quite distinct and regular near the tail, 

 which is terminated by two styles. Superior cirri eighteen, bulbous 

 near the apex, which is pointed, with a dark ring at the bulb, and 

 blackish about the base. Feet thirty-six pairs, each with a small 

 inferior cirrus, and garnished with numerous clear straw-yellow 

 bristles, those of the dorsal branch shorter than those of the ventral, 

 all shghtly bent near the apex, which is minutely serrulate and 

 acute. Spines simply conical. Bristles of the feet very similar to 

 those of L. semisculptus ; those of the ventral branch are bidentate 

 at the apex, and armed with spinous denticles on one side as far 

 down the shaft as where the thickened part begins. 



The animal moves quickly by means of its feet in a somewhat un- 

 dulating manner, the medial antenna being held erect and reverted, 

 the palpi stretched forwards and inclined to the ground, which it 

 examines by their aidf. Wlien thrown into fresh water, it dies 

 almost instantly, and the scales drop off; and even during life these 

 organs are removed vpith so slight a friction, that it is not easy to 

 take up a specimen without depriinng it of one or more of them. 



Of his Ajjhrodita lepidota, Pallas says, " Certe in mari inter 

 Angliam et Belgium satis copiose occurrit heec species, et ex fascia 

 plerumque longitudinali nigra facile adgnoscitur." A Polynoe 

 marked in this fashion is common on our shore, which answers well 

 also to Pallas' s, but our worm is certainly nothing more than a 

 variety of the P. cirrata. Pallas, however, says that his Aphrodita 

 lepidota has only fourteen pairs of scales, and were this point found 

 to be correct, it would decide it, with us, to be a distinct species. 

 We leave it to future inquiry. And let us here remark, that our 

 Polynoe cirrata is not identical with the Aphrodita cirrhosa of 

 Pallas I, for he expressly says that the bristles of the dorsal branch 

 of the foot are longer than those of the inferior branch {Misc. Zool. 

 p. 96). The species are otherwise very nearly allied. 



* The scales " seem vascular or susceptible of distension, and when detached, 

 each resembles a flat drop of pale grey or purplish jelly. It is from the peculiar 

 nature of the whole that the upper surface seems gelatinous." — Sir J. G. Dalyell. 



t " The motion of the animal is very swift, half running, half swimming. But 

 it likewise swims rapidly through the water, and with much more facility than 

 any other of its tribe." — Sir J. G. Dalyell. 



X This conclusion I now think is erroneous. Pallas's description of A. cirrhom 

 is not elaborated with his usual care, and his figure he himself criticises severely: 



I 2 



