296 Prof. M'lntosli's Xolcs from the 



The coloration of such phiicc, moreover, woultl render 

 them consjncuous to fishes ai.d other forms which preyed on 

 them, just as hawks often .strike down wliite j)igeon.s in a 

 tlock of blue. The fact, however, that plaice have the shelter 

 of the sand may have increased the chance of survival. It 

 has also to be remembered that these are only adolescent 

 fishes and tliat they had yet to encounter many risks before 

 attaining full size in the deeper water beyond St. Andrews 

 Bay. 



2. On the Brititih Syllidffi. 



Tn Dr. Johnston's Catalogue of the British Muse.im (18fi.'>) 

 seven species frequenting British waters are nn'iitioiicd, 

 viz.: — Si/llisarmiU(iris,0. F. i\lUller; S. cornnta, 11. Kathke; 

 S. prolijera { = Autolytus proUjera^ O. F. Miiller) ; S. mono- 

 ceros, Dalyell, a species which has articulated cirri and lon;^ 

 })encils of swimming (sexual) bristles; Galtiola s/>ect(ibi/is, 

 Johnston; Mijrianida pinniijera^ ]Montagu ; and loida ina- 

 crophihalma, Johnstou (a sexual form of one of the pre- 

 ceding). 



Instead of the four or five genera then known there are 

 now at least nine or ten, and the number of species has been 

 increased by a multijde of five. Yet the small size anil the 

 difficulty in discriminating the species has probably led to 

 some being overlooked even in the British area, just as in 

 some foreign collections the representatives are wholly absent. 

 The group is one of the most interesting to naturalists from 

 the frequence of schizogamy and epigamy in its members, as 

 well as fiom the occurrence of phosphorescence. While linear 

 budding is thus common, no British species exhibits the 

 reniaikable lateral branching of S/j/lis ramosa of the * Chal- 

 lenger ' * or of tiie Trypanosyllis (jeminij)ara of II. P. John- 

 son f from Puget Sound, a species in which numerous buds 

 arise from a "proliferating somite" near the posterior 

 extremity. 



3. On the Syllidas of the * Porcupine ' Expeditions. 



In the exjjedition of 1869 a SijUis was dredged at no. 6 

 (3. G. 6D) which appears to approach most nearly ISyllis 

 armillariSj O. F. M., though the ventral cirrus is narrower. 

 Its imperfect condition forbids further diagnosis. 



* Zoology, vol. xii. p. 198, pis. x.xxi. kc. 



t I'loc. Lost. Soc. Nut. llif-t. vol. xxi.v. no. \b, ]>. -lOo, jil. vii. lijrs. 72- 

 76 (lUOl). 



