120 APHRODITACE^. 



posterior and larger portion naked, but muricated with small tuber- 

 cles arranged in three rows, one down the middle, and one on each 

 side above the bases of the feet : ventral surface smooth, grooved 

 down the middle, more or less iridescent. Head concealed by the 

 front scales, small, tumid, somewhat heart-shaped, sinuated in front, 

 smooth and flesh-coloured ; eyes two, very distinct, round and black, 

 placed far back on the occiput and remote from each other. An- 

 tennae three, the mid one originating in the sinus of the head, large 

 and equal in length to the palpi, setaceous, with an abruptly acumi- 

 nated point, downy, of a dusky colour, but pale and jointed at the 

 base ; the lateral antennae are only about a third the size of the odd 

 one, and of the same form and structure. Palpi two, awl-shaped, 

 larger than the odd antenna, downy or ciliate, and of a straw-yellow 

 colour. On each side of them there is a pair of tentacular cirri 

 equal in length to themselves, but not so stout, and in every respect 

 resembling the raid antenna. Mouth inferior, terminal, furnished 

 with a protrusile proboscis, armed with four jaws of a horn colour, 

 and encircled at the orifice with a series of short conical papillae. 

 Segments numerous, narrow, deeply incised on the sides, broader 

 than deep. Scales deciduous, rather small, roundish, smooth, with 

 a plain unfringed edge, of a greenish-grey colour, irregularly clouded, 

 and covered with pale puncture-like dots. In all our specimens 

 some pairs had been lost. Audouin and M. -Edwards say there are 

 fifteen pairs, and they are affixed to every alternate segment after 

 the fashion of the more normal species of the genus. The anterior 

 pairs are imbricated and cover the back entirely, but the posterior 

 pairs lie over the bases of the feet, and leave the back naked in the 

 middle. Feet well developed, homologous ; the dorsal branch repre- 

 sented by a mere tubercle, from which grows a fan-shaped brush of 

 short stout equal bristles ; the ventral branch conoid, protruded 

 much beyond the dorsal, obliquely truncate, armed vdth a series of 

 golden-yellow strong bristles, and mth a small inferior cirrus which 

 does not extend beyond the apex. Bristles of the dorsal branch 

 somewhat curved, rather obtuse, rough on one side, and generally 

 soiled with extraneous matter ; those of the ventral branch more 

 than twice as long, decreasing both in strength and length as the 

 series descends to the belly, the two upper ones pointed like a lance, 

 the rest like a hedge-knife, with two sharp denticles at the tip, and 

 the inner edge of the curved part minutely serrulated. Spines yellow, 

 tapered insensibly to a rather obtuse point, one to each brush of 

 bristles. Tentacidar cirri awl-shaped, abruptly acuminate, downy 

 or ciliate, of a dusky or dark colour, with paler spots, reaching to or 

 a little beyond the apex of the foot ; all the feet posterior to the 

 31st pair are furnished with these cirri, but only those anterior to 

 them which are destitute of scales. Tail without elongated styles. 



It is difficult to describe the colouring of this fine worm. Of 

 specimens preserved in spirits the ground colour is a straw or ochre- 

 yellow, but the back is clouded and spotted with dusky olive-green, 

 there being a row of spots down the middle, a line or band along 

 each side, and another row of spots exterior to this above the bases 



