252 SERPULID.E. 



43. ARIPPASA. 



Chai'. Body composed of equal and similar segments divided by 

 plain sutures, not indented on the sides : mouth surmounted with a 

 cartilaginous bilobed membrane : no antennae : branchise in two fau- 

 shaped tufts, composed of numerous parallel rays, vmited by a mem- 

 brane, and free only at the apex, the inner surface densely clothed 

 with capillary filaments : post- occipital segment apodous : segments 

 narrow, not divisible into thoracic and abdominal, dorsal and ventral 

 surfaces alike, and no sternal nor ventral band : feet, — the setigerous 

 tubercles very small, mammillate or level with the surface, with 

 small weak laxice-shaped bristles ; — the unciuated linear-elongate. 



i . A. infimdibulum. 



Aniphitrite infundibulum, Montagu in Linn. Trans, ix. 109. tab. 8. 



Penn. Brit. Zool. edit. 1812, iv. 89. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. v. ; 



2nde edit. v. 611. 

 Sabella infundibulum, Johnston in Ann. Sf Mag. Nat. Hist. xvi. 44;>. 



Grube, Vain. Annel. 88. 

 Ampbitrite floscula, Dalyell, Pow. Great, ii. 245. pi. 31. f. 9 (the 



young?). 



Hab. Within low-water-mark. 



I)esc. " Body long ; joints numerous, distant, of an orange colour, 

 annulated with whitish : fasciculi very small : branchiae obscure : at 

 the base of the tentacula a scalloped membrane : tentacula two, semi- 

 circular when spread, and nearly uniting into a regular circle ; these 

 are each composed of about 3/ rays connected by a transparent web 

 except at the points, which turn a little inwards ; the outside of these 

 singularly beautiful arms is smooth and of a purple colour, darkest 

 at the tips of the rays ; the inside is most elegantly ciliated with two 

 rows of fimbrife along each ray, of a chestnut colour, shaded to a 

 purple near the centre : mouth purple, the lips bordered with 

 chestnut. 



"This animal is capable of the most sudden contraction, from 

 8 or 10 inches in length to 3 or 4. It has between 150 and 160 

 joints, becoming very small at the posterior end. 



" The case or tube formed by this species of Amphitrite is wholly 

 gelatinous, of a very firm and elastic nature, greenish on the outside, 

 but usually stained black by the soil they inhabit. These cases are 

 composed of many layers or strata, and when the first coat is removed, 

 the remaining part is quite hyaline, and the animal nearly as distinctly 

 seen as through glass. 



•' This new and interesting species I discovered in the estuary of 

 Kingsbridge, near the Salt-stone, but not common, and only un- 

 covered at the lowest ebb of spring tides. The case is buried beneath 

 the surface, and is only discoverable by a small portion above, 

 ap])earing like a piece of black jelly. When the tide returns, the 

 animal displays its beautiful tentacula, but rarely exposes its body. 



