POLYNOIDAE 



47 



Genus Macellicephala, Mcintosh 



Macellicephala sp. 



St. 144. 5. i. 27. Off mouth of Stromness Harbour, South Georgia. From 54° 04' S, 36° 27' W. 

 to 53° 58' S, 36 " 26' W. 155-178 m. Gear NCS-T. Bottom: green mud and sand. One specimen. 



Description. This much damaged specimen measures 21 mm. by 5 mm. r"5mm 

 without the feet. The back is irregularly splashed with purplish brown. 



The prostomium is deeply incised in front but not so deeply as in 

 M. mirabilis. There is no trace of eyes, and all the appendages are lost 

 except a fairly short palp with an abrupt blunt end and a single tapering 

 dorsal tentacular cirrus, as long as the prostomium is broad. The ventral 

 cirrus of the first foot reaches to the end of the chaeta sac. 



There are 17 feet and 9 pairs of elytrophores. The feet (Fig. 10, a) are 

 biramous ; the dorsal branch is reduced to a single long sheathed aciculum 

 with, in the middle and posterior segments, one or two bristles lying in 

 the tissue beside it. In a preparation of a posterior foot the end of one 

 of these bristles projects clear of the tissue. 



1mm 



O 



a ' b 



Fig. 10. Macellicephala sp. 

 a. Foot. b. Ventral bristle. 



The ventral branch is slightly longer, shaped like a very narrow cone and ends in 

 a long sheathed aciculum : it contains a bundle of transparent bristles (Fig. 10, b) lightly 

 serrated on one side only. The ventral cirri are small, not reaching to the end of the foot. 



Remarks. Mocellicephala is a pelagic genus. Unfortunately this example is so much 

 damaged that its specific attribution is impracticable. It diff'ers from M. mirabilis, 

 Mcintosh, from New Zealand, in the shape of the prostomium, and in the absence of 

 eyes and of a dorsal bristle bundle. The shape of the feet is similar to that of Fauvel's 

 M. incerta and M. affinis, but it diff'ers from these in the" character of its bristles. 



