20 AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT. 



Family SYLLID^. 



Sub-family SYLLIDE,E. 

 Genus SYLLIS Savigny. 



SVLLIS CLOSTEROBBANCHIA Schmardd. 



Schmarda (1861), p. 72. 



Ehlers (1904), p. 19, pi. Ill, figs. 1-4. 



Ehlers (1908), p. 45. 



Benham (1909), p. 237. 



Ehlers (1913), p. 476, pi. XXXI, figs. 1-3 (epitokous phases). 



Augener (1913), p. 200, fig. 23. (I have not seen this.) 



Fauvel (1919), p. 354. 



(Plate 5, figs. 1-2.) 



It is interesting to find this species, originally regarded as a Sub-antarctic form, 

 occurring off Adelie Land, though it has already been recorded from Kaiser Wilhelm 

 II Land. 



Amongst the material I find epitokous phases as well as the atokous. The 

 species seems somewhat variable, judging from the accounts of Ehlers and Fauvel, and 

 my own observations, especially in regard to the shape and length of, and the number 

 of annuli in, the dorsal cirri. I will here refer only to such differences as I have noted, 

 for on the whole the specimens agree with the previous accounts. 



The larger individuals in the present collection, which numbers about a score, 

 measure from 20-25 mm. in length, with a width of 1 mm.; they contain from 60-100 

 segments. The breadth of the body is fairly uniform throughout, except for a slight 

 tapering at each end. There are no markings on the dorsal surface. 



The prostomium is not quite in agreement with Ehlers' s figure, for in the 

 specimens before me it is transversely oval, with the anterior margin produced in the 

 middle line to form a rounded lobe, which is about half the width of the base of the 

 prostomium. Ehlers shows the margin to be a continuous curve. The difference is 

 perhaps due to the state of preservation. 



The number of annuli in the cirri has been shown to vary, and Ehlers (1913) has 

 found that in the youngest stages they are not moniliform ; and that the annulation 

 increases with age ; but I suggest that the differences observed in various adults may be 

 in part due to injury to the tips of the appendages. 



