54 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [348] 



ceding 1 species, and has somewhat similar habits, but does not construct 

 such perfjct tubes. It is occasionally dug out of the sand at low- water 

 but is much more coirmon in ("ceper water. 



The Staurocephalm pallidm V. is a 1 so an inhabitant of these sandy 

 shores, burrowing in the sand at low-water. It is a slender species, 

 about two inches long and one-tenth Iroad. It is peculiar in having 

 four long, slender antennae or t3iitar.li s on the front of the head, ar- 

 ranged in a cross-like manner, to which the generic name alludes. 

 There are also four, small, dark red eyes on the upper side of the head. 

 Tiie coior i pale yellowish, the red blood- vessels showing through an- 

 teriorly. This worm is allied to the two preceding, and to Lumbri- 

 conereis, and like them it is predacious in its habits and has a very 

 complicated set of jaws, consisting of numerous sharp, fang-like pieces 

 of various shapes, arranged in several rows on both sides. 



The Sthenelais picta V. is another curious Annelid, which is some- 

 times found burrowing in the sand at low-watermark, but it also occurs 

 on shelly and muddy bottoms in deep water. It has a long, slender 

 body, six inches or more in length, and the back is covered with two 

 rows of thin, smooth scales, which are very numerous. The head is 

 usually brownish, with a whitish spot on each side; there is generally 

 a dark brown band along the back ; the scales are translucent, and 

 vary in their color-markings, but more commonly there is a border of 

 dark brown or blackish along the inner edge, which is usually con- 

 nected with a similar border along the anterior edge, or with an ante- 

 rior angular spot, and often with a dark border along the posterior 

 edge, leaving more or less of the central part of each scale white and 

 tran sin cent. 



The Nephthys picta (Plate XII, fig. 57) is also sometimes found bur- 

 rowing iii sandy mud at low-water mark, hut it is much more frequent 

 in the deeper waters of the sounds. It can be distinguished at once 

 from all the other species of Nephthys found in this region by its greater 

 slenderness, and by having the body whitish and variously marked or 

 mottled on the back, toward the head, with dark brown ; it sometimes 

 has a dark brown median dorsal-line. The shape of the head and posi- 

 tion of the tentacles are also peculiar. 



In sheltered situations, where there is some mud with the sand, the 

 Cirratulus grandis V., (p. 319, Plate XV, figs. 80, 81,) is often met with 

 burrowing beneath the surface. In similar places, and also in nearly 

 pure, compact sand, and in sand mixed with gravel, the large tubes of 

 Amphitrite ornata (p. 320, Plate XVI, fig. 82) are often to be seen ; 

 these show a round opening, a quarter of an inch or more in diameter, 

 surrounded by a slightly raised mound of sand, often different in color 

 from that of the surface, and sometimes there are cylinders of such 

 sand around the opening. These tubes are scarcely to be distinguished 

 from those of Anthostoma robwtum, described above, and are found ill 



