236 TEREBELLIDiE. 



Obs. The tube is as large or larger than a swan's quill, and is 

 readily known by the smgular tuft of branched arenaceous fibres with 

 which the orifice is guarded. These are sometimes in two circles ; 

 for if, by accident, the first series is buried by a deposition of soil, 

 the tenant constructs another, of higher elevation, to meet the con- 

 tingency. Montagu says that the segments are '* about forty, with as 

 many fasciculi and branchiae on each side, the first nine or ten much 

 larger, and nearer together than those on the middle of the body ; 

 round the mouth are numerous long filiform tentacula, like the body, 

 of a pale flesh-colour ; behind the head are short branched feelers.*' 

 Daly ell's description is little less vague ; but he has given an in- 

 teresting history of the worm's habits. 



(a) Firth of Forth (the tube only). 



3. T. cirrata, branchiae arborescent, without appendages at the 



base ; setigerous feet 1 6 pairs ; " 1 1 dorsal plates on the anterior 



articulations." Length 12" ; breadth in front 6'". Tube fragile, 



composed of sand and clay, immersed in the soil with half an inch 



projecting above the surface. 



Buschigte Amphitrite, Mull. Wurm. 188. tab. 15. 



Sabella cirrata, Mont. Test. Brit. 550. Penn. Brit. Zool. iv. 370 



(1812). Turt. Brit. Faun. 203. 

 Terebella cirrhata, Montagu in Linn. Trans, xii. 342. tab, 12. f. 1. 



Savign. Syst. Annel. 86. 



Hah. The littoral region : gregarious. 



Obs. " Body long, with numerous orange-coloured articulations, 

 furnished with small peduncles, and at the anterior end with fasciculi 

 of bristles. Branchiae large and red. Mouth with a frill-like mem- 

 brane beneath, and ciliated above. Capillary appendages 4 or 5 

 inches in length." — Montagu. 



Montagu's specimen in the Museum Collection is 10" long, as 

 thick as a man's finger forwards, tapered posteriorly, and termi- 

 nated with a long cylindrical tail. The skin is smooth, and the 

 colour has become a uniform grey or olive. The tentacula are 

 numerous. The anterior pair of branchiae are twice as large as the 

 second, which again are larger than the third, and they are not fur- 

 nished with appendages. The setigerous feet begin below the in- 

 sertion of the hinder pair of branchiae ; and the yellow bristles issue 

 from a cleft in a small papilla, forming a compressed brush. The 

 uncini or booklets form a linear-elliptical spot beneath each, and 

 are disposed in a double series. But on the posterior portion of the 

 body the booklets define a roundish cup-like space with a raised 

 margin ; and these spaces become gradually very small as we follow 

 them to the vent. The bristles are simple, very beautiful, with a 

 cylindrical shaft brought to a double-edged sharp point like a lance ; 

 it is smooth. The uncini or booklets are bent like a siphon, more 

 acutely pointed at one end than at the other, and with a small obtuse 

 knob near to, but unconnected with, the sharper end. 



{a) South Devon, G. Montagu. 



