30 LEODICID^ OF THE WEST INDIAN REGION. 



being of larger size. From Webster's description of longisetis and Ehlers's of violacea- 

 maculata I am convinced that the two are identical, the name longisetis having priority. 

 There is no evidence that violacea Grube has been found in the West Indies. 



Schmarda (1861, p. 131, with text-figures) described as Eunice nigricans a form 

 from Jamaica. This was 110 mm. long, very dark brown or black in color, and with 

 ringed tentacles. His description of the setae, parapodia, and gills, and in a general way 

 the jaws, agrees with longisetis and indicates that he had a specimen of the occasional 

 color variety (see above) in which the entire body retains the purple coloration, which 

 in most cases in the adult is restricted to the posterior end. One of these in my collection 

 has a very minute cirrus-like "gill" on each of the fifth to the eighth somites, but differs 

 in no other respect from the ones figured. Schmarda described the fourth somite as 

 white, but he evidently counted the first setigerous somite as the first. In his plate 32, 

 figure 260, he figures Eunice schemacephala, and a comparison of this with his description 

 shows that this was his method of counting. Applying this rule to nigricans, its color 

 arrangement agrees with longisetis. In nigricans the gills begin on the eighth somite 

 instead of the ninth, as in longisetis. If this supposition is correct, the name nigricans 

 has precedence. 



Verrill mentions Leodice longisetis as one of the most abundant species in dead corals 

 in Bermuda. I found it there only once, in 1916, on the under side of a stone in Tucker's 

 Bay. It was never abundant in my Tortugas collections, though a few appeared each 

 season. The U. S. National Museum has specimens from Curacao, Cuba, and from a 

 number of stations in the vicinity of Key West. Ehlers's material was collected at the 

 Tortugas. 



Leodice mutilata Webster. 



(Plate 3, figures 5 to 8; text-figures 66 to 76.) 



Eunice mutilata Webster, 1884, p. 315, plate 9, figures 36-40. 



Leodice mutilata Verrill, 1900, p. 639. 



Eunice barvicensis 1 Mcintosh, 1885, p. 292, plate xxxix, figure 12; plate xxi a, figures 1-3. 



A long, rather slender species, always much more slender toward the posterior than 

 toward the anterior end. The one figured (plate 3, figure 5) was nearly 250 mm. long, 

 with a peristomial diameter of 4 mm. and about 350 somites. 



The general color of living animals is a reddish brown alike on dorsal and ventral 

 surfaces, though the tint is lighter ventrally and there are numerous yellow spots over 

 the entire surface, but more numerous toward the posterior regions. The tips of the 

 tentacles and all cirri are white, and a white nuchal band occurs on the fifth somite. 

 Specimens collected in Bermuda in 1916 varied from a light to a dark chocolate-brown, 

 and the larger individuals were without the nuchal band. Very young individuals were 

 very dark brown with numerous fine white specks over the surface. In these the nuchal 

 band was an intense white and the tips of the tentacles were also very noticeable in their 

 white coloring. The dark-brown or purple banding of these young animals is preserved 

 in the coloring of the posterior somites in even the largest specimens. The general 

 reddish color, especially of the anterior end, and the white spotting are preserved in 

 alcoholic material. Living adult males are of a dirty yellow color in the middle region 

 of the body. 



The prostomium is chestnut-colored with white margins (plate 3, figure 6). The 

 median tentacle extends to about the anterior border of the fourth somite, the paired ones 

 being about equal to each other and a little shorter than the median. The relative length 

 of all of the tentacles is dependent on the degree of expansion of the entire animal. The 

 tips of all tentacles are white, a constant feature in this species. The peristomium 

 is a little broader than the prostomium and a little darker in shade. Lateral notches 



