254 MISCELLANEOUS. 



not, and others approximate it to the Sipunculus with as little reason. 

 This matter might be elucidated perhaps by dissection. 



The figure can be explained better by the representation than by 

 any description. Length seven or eight inches ; thickness in the middle 

 about half an inch. The anterior extremity nearly three quarters in its 

 longest diameter. The body may be described as consisting of three 

 parts ; the anterior, a. called the gland, swelling and longitudinally sul- 

 cated or striated ; the middle, b. annulated : and the tail, c. composed of 

 a series of moveable filaments, and tapering to the extremity. The mouth 

 is in the centre of the anterior extremity, and the vent, d. at that part of 

 the body where there are some tuberculated rings at the origin of the 

 filamentous tail. Some animals are pure white, others faint dingy yellow. 



This animal dwells in various parts of the Scotish seas : the finest 

 having come from Shetland, where it lives in a foul muddy bottom. I 

 found one, however, towards three inches long, considerably above low 

 water, under the stones of the shore, not far from Granton Pier, in the 

 estuary of the Forth. But specimens are said to be everywhere of rare 

 occurrence. 



I have provided specimens with a quantity of fine sand in their 

 vessels, which they never penetrated. 



The animal is always full of a blackish matter ; and portions of a 

 soft or thready faecal substance have been discharged. A specimen like 

 Plate XXXV. fig. 2. discharged a vermicular substance extending three 

 inches, which, at the time, I conjectured to be some worm that it had 

 swallowed. The state of such substances prevents their nature from 

 being clearly recognised. 



PLATE XXXV. 



FIG. J . Priapulus caudatus. Anterior extremity, a ; middle, b ; posterior, c ; 



vent, d. 

 2. Another specimen. 



