ART. 15 POLYCHAETOUS ANNELIDS FROM OEIENT — TEEADWELL 13 



In the taxonomy of Phyllodoce the character of the proboscis is 

 important, but neither in this nor the following species was this 

 organ protruded. 



The specimen was labeled as No. 15 in the Japan collection. The 

 type is Cat. No. 19143 in the collections of the U.S.N.M. 



PHYLLODOCE VIOLACEA, new species 



While collecting on the coral rocks in the harbor of Suva, Fiji, 

 my companion, F. A. Potts, called my attention to a large number 

 of Phyllodocids lying on top of the rocks left bare by the outgoing 

 tide, where they were kept from drying only by the splashing of 

 water over them by an occasional wave. It seemed probable that if 

 they had been in this position before the tide went out they would 

 have been washed away by the weaves, but we saw no trace of bur- 

 rows from which they might have come, and in any case it is not 

 easy to understand why they should have come out of burrows at a 

 time when they might easily have been dried by the sun or caught 

 by birds. 



An unusual feature of this species is the great length of the ani- 

 mals. The type after preservation, measures 990 mm. and must in 

 life have been well over 1,000 mm. in length. The largest somites 

 are 1 mm. broad and 0.75 mm. long. 



The dorsal surface of the prostomium is, roughly speaking, oval 

 in outline, broken by a small median depression, in which lies a 

 small nuchal papilla, and indented at the point of insertion of the 

 tentacles. (Fig. 22.) If the proboscis is protruded, the prostomium 

 appears shorter and more nearly circular in outline. The tentacles 

 equal one another in size and are about half as long as the prosto- 

 mium. The eyes are very small and difficult to see. In the type the 

 proboscis is protruded to a length of 7 mm. and is densely studded 

 with dark brown papillae uniformly distributed over its entire sur- 

 face. There is a small nuchal organ on either side of the prostomium. 



The tentacular cirri are short (fig. 22), the longest, the dorsal one 

 on the first somite, extending to somite 7. This one is a trifle more 

 slender than the others. The first cirrus is almost as long as this, 

 the others intermediate between these in length. 



To the naked eye the color is throughout a dark brown, but under 

 a lens it is seen to have a brilliant violet iridescence, most intense 

 anteriorly but visible throughout the entire extent of the body. 

 Minute white spots are scattered irregularly over the surface. On 

 the prostomium the iridescence is obscured by a brown pigment 

 which in places allows the iridescence to show, but is denser 

 in an area having roughly an X outline, each anterior arm of the 

 X ending at the base of a dorsal tentacle, the posterior arm on either 

 side running to the postero-lateral angle of the prostomium. The 



