4° 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



In addition to a number of small organisms entangled with the bristles, as described 

 by Mcintosh (1885, p. 43) for his Kerguelen specimens, a sponge Homaxinella stipra- 

 tumesceris, Topsent (I am indebted to my colleague, Mr M. Burton, for the name) is 

 attached to the back of a specimen from St. 45. It is fixed to two adjacent notopodia 

 and to the external edge of an elytron. 



Family POLYNOIDAE 

 Genus Hermadion, Kinberg 



Hermadion ferox, Baird. 



cm 



Baird, 1865, p. 197. 



Hermadion rouchi, Gravier, 1911, pp. 82-86, pi. iii, figs. 33-34; pi. iv, figs. 45-51 ; pi. vii, fig. 74. 



St. 39. 25. iii. 26. East Cumberland Bay, South 

 Georgia. From 8 cables S 8i°W of Merton Rock ^n 



to 1-3 miles N 7° E of Macmahon Rock. 179-235 m. 

 Gear OTL. Bottom: grey mud. One specimen. 



St. 42. I. iv. 26. OiT mouth of Cumberland Bay, 

 South Georgia. From 6-3 miles N 89° E of Jason 

 Light to 4 miles N 39° E of Jason Light. 120-204 m. 

 Gear OTL. Bottom: mud. Two specimens. 



St. 149. 10. i. 27. Mouth of East Cumberland 

 Bay, South Georgia. From 1-15 miles N 76^° W to 

 2-62 miles S 11° W of Merton Rock. 200-234 m. 

 Gear OTL. Bottom: mud. Two specimens. 



Remarks. I have examined Baird 's type 

 specimen and it agrees exactly with Gravier's 

 admirable description and figures of Hermadion 

 rouchi. 



From St. 42 there is a gigantic example 

 (Fig. 6) with 60 chaetigers which measures 

 16 cm; by 6 cm. including the bristles. 



Benham (1921, pp. 46-50) makes a lengthy 

 comparative study of this species and is at 

 pains to show that it is distinct from Lagisca 

 crosetensis. I have examined Mcintosh's type 

 and I endorse Benham's conclusions. There 

 is a tendency for H. ferox to grade into 

 H. magalhaensi . The chief differences between '^' 



the two are the presence in H. ferox of the 

 palisade of long dorsal bristles and of giant spines on the elytra. There is a considerable 

 variation in the extent to which the dorsal bristles arch over the back, and in the smaller 

 specimen from St. 42 the giant spines are confined to the posterior border of the 

 elytra, and in the hinder segments are absent altogether. It is not impossible that 

 H. ferox be the sexual stage of H. magalhaensi. 



-^O 



Hermadion ferox. Dorsal view 

 of entire specimen. 



