294 ]\Ir. J. W. Pryde on Annelida Polycliceta 



the Channel Islands, where medium or small examples are 

 found only in chinks of rocks and under BaJani and 

 Ascidians in the Gouliot Caves, Sark — a single small example 

 of N. culirifera and one or two of N. dumerilii accompanying:; 

 them. Occasionally, tlie tuhe formed hy it in fissures of 

 sandstone is not half the length of the body. Many young 

 forms occur on the tangle blades, to the surface of which 

 their tubes are attached. It extends to the coralline ground 

 oft' the East Coast, and now and then takes possession of an 

 empty tube of other forms, such as Thelepus.'" De St. 

 Joseph found it oft' the shores of France, but it stretches to 

 the south of Halifax, Nova Scotia ; Marenzeller obtained it 

 in the Behring Sea and in Japanese waters ; Izuka records 

 it from many stations and in Sagami Bay at a depth of 

 G3 fathoms; Grube found it near Anion on the eastern 

 shores of Siberia, while Elilers obtained var. lunulata in the 

 Strait of Magellan. The ' Valorous ' Expedition procured 

 several large specimens from the Arctic seas, and Prof. 

 Dickie, Aberdeen, found it on floating seaweed oft' Gough's 

 Island, South Atlantic. One specimen is recorded iu tlie 

 ' Challenger ' Reports, having been obtained south of Halifax 

 at a depth of 85 fathoms ; but this specimen dift'crs from a 

 British one of the same size by a marked diminution of 

 the superior lobe, a feature which is common to Cana- 

 dian examples. Heinen obtained this species at seven 

 stations, the most northerly one being lat. 58° 41' N., 

 long. 1° 40' E. 



The colour of the body is iridescent reddish brown, the 

 dorsum being darker in hue than the ventrum. The segments 

 ai-e large anteriorly and small posteriorly, while on the 

 ventral surface at the posterior end there is a slight median 

 groove. The body terminates in a prominent vent, beneath 

 wliich are two long anal cirri, the cirri being about the 

 length of last eight segments taken together. In many of 

 the larger specimens there are calcareous deposits in circular 

 patches in the skin of the dorsum *. The proboscis was not 

 extruded in any of the specimens, but is armed with jaws 

 and [laragnathe which are well seen when living specimens 

 are irritated by adding some acetic acid to the sea-water iu 

 which they are living."" 



During the reproductive season the males and females enter 

 the " Heteronereid " phase, and thus the epitokous forms are 

 arrived at. ''In the males, which are found from January 

 to June, the head is wide and the eyes are larger ; the 

 dorsal cirri of the first seven feet are thickened throughout 

 * Vide ' Mouogi-aph,' vol. ii. ^art ii. p. 272. 



