S-2 Prof. M'lntosli's Notes from the 



by the somewhat long clavate papillte, -which became shorter 

 and ceased about the commeucement of the distal third of 

 the process, and thns contrasted with conditions in the 

 Prionofpio plumosa of Sars. The dorsal bristles consisted of 

 winged forms (PL VI. fig. 5) and of others in which the wing 

 was not distinct, but which had the axis granular and so 

 arranged in some as to give a transversely barred appearance 

 (PI. VI. fig. 6) . In the middle of the body the ventral hooks, 

 besides a few very slender capillary forms, had at the ventral 

 edge a single strong curved bristle (PI. VI. fig. 7). The 

 hooks were rather slender and long, with a main fang and 

 two or three teeth above it in a lateral view (PI. VI. tig. ^). 



The branchia is apparently broader than jNIalmgren's 

 fi"ure would indicate, and broader than the form described 

 by Sars or in that from the ' Valorous,^ but it is less elon- 

 gate than that of the British form, the Prionospio malmgreni 

 of Claparede. 



Lately Mr. P. Southern, who is doing so much good work 

 amongst the Irish Annelids, procured in a tow-net attached to 

 the trawl ofi" Balbriggan, and also on muddy ground at various 

 parts of the Irish coast, small specimens of a Prionospio, 

 two of which he kindly sent me. He refers to this form as 

 Prionospio steenstrupi, Malmgren''^, but it agrees rather with 

 the form described by Claparede* as P. malmgreni. 



The minuteness of the preserved specimens made it difficult 

 to determine the presence or absence of a cephalic ridge ; 

 but, so far as could be seen, it was indicated. The head termi- 

 nates anteriorly in a truncated snout, with four eyes — two 

 rounded, anterior, composed of several crystalline spheres 

 and dark pigment, and after an interval two elongated or 

 kidney-shaped masses of pigment. This form is thus in 

 etnitvast with the Canadian, in almost every example of 

 which, as mentioned, the extruded proboscis had distorted 

 the snout. Theprohoscis in the latter had a slightly tapered 

 basi'l process with a button-like tip. A prominent cephalic 

 ridge occuj)ied the centre of the dorsum, and terminated 

 i)osteriorly in a pointed process like an adnate tentacle. It 

 closely ngrees, however, with P. mabngreni of Clapaiede. 



The body is elongated, resembling posteriorly that of a 

 small Nereid, but anteriorly eharaeteristically enlarged and 

 gently tapering posteriorly to the vent, which has two cirri. 

 Claparede's examples were all small, viz. 11-12 mm,, yet 

 the females were mature, a bunch of orange ova occurring on 

 each side of the intestine behind the fifteenth segment. 



♦ Annel. Clu'top. Napoli, p. •"..'j.'3, j)1. xxii. fig. 3. 



