NEREIDIFORMIA 3 I 3 



west coast of Ireland ; it has been recorded also from. Kerguelen 

 and from Japan, so that it has a very wide distribution. 1 



Sub-Fam. 3. Acoetina. 2 The long, vermiform body has some 

 thirty-nine to ninety -three pairs of elytra, placed on every 

 alternate segment throughout. It is represented in the British 

 area by Panthalis from 75 fms., which forms a tube of black mud. 



Sub-Fam. 4. Sigalionina. This sub-family includes forms 

 with a long, vermiform body ; anteriorly the elytra are on 

 alternate segments, up to the twenty-sixth, and posteriorly on 

 every succeeding segment ; " gills " here coexist with elytra ; cirri 

 are absent. The prostomium in Sthenelais Kinb. has a median 

 tentacle, which is absent in Sigalion Aud. and Edw. Sth. boa 

 Jnstn. is common off our coasts near low-water mark, where it 

 burrows in the loose sand with rapidity. It is an elegant worm, 

 and may attain a length of 8 inches, though it is generally 

 smaller ; it is narrow, flat, and only slightly tapering at each end ; 

 the elytra, which may be more than a hundred pairs, are greyish 

 or slightly brownish, some being lighter than others ; the margin 

 is fringed with simple processes (which in Sigalion are pinnate). 

 Atlantic and Mediterranean. In Psammolyce the elytra are 

 covered with sand grains. British and Mediterranean. 



FAM. 4. Phyllodocidae. The members of this family make use 

 of the foliaceous cirri (Fig. 136, F) in their very active move- 

 ments. The rounded prostomium bears four or five tentacles; there 

 are four long peristomial cirri on each side (see Fig. 134, E). 



Sub-Fam. 1. Phyllodocina. The body is elongated, with 

 numerous segments ; the eyes are small ; the chaetae are jointed ; 

 the dorsal and ventral cirri are foliaceous ; the pharynx is covered 

 with papillae externally, but contains no " jaws." 



Phyllodoce has a more or less depressed body ; four prostomial 

 tentacles ; four pairs of peristomial cirri. P. latnelligera Jnstn. 3 

 (the " paddle-worm ") may reach a length of 24 inches, but is 

 usually 8 to 12 inches long and |- inch across. The general 

 colour is bright bluish-green or yellowish-green, with metallic 

 iridescence ; the parapodia olive-green or brown, the sensory pro- 

 1 F. Buchanan, "Report on Polychaetes, Part I." Sci. Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc. 

 vii. (n.s.) 1893, p. 16!>. 



2 Polyodontes Ran. deserves mention as being a large, rar> form with peculiar 

 pedal gland ; cf. Eisig (ref. on p. 268), p. 324 ; and Buchanan, Quart. J. Micr. Sc. 

 xxxv. 1894, p. 433. 



3 Many authorities regard this species as synonymous with Savigny's P. laminosa. 



