252 ]\Ir. J. W. PiTcle on Annelida Polijchata 



The tubes differ very much in .size and thickne.«s, and 

 wliile some have rings clear, well nuirked, and at rej^uhir 

 intervals, others have tliem irregularly ])!aced and almost 

 indistinct. The tubes found at Buchan Deep are about 

 8 inches long, fairly thin, clear, and nearly transparent, and 

 are almost entirely filled with very tine sand. They have 

 irregularly arranged transverse striations, and at one end 

 there is often a perforated septum, which probably acts as a 

 means of defence and at the same time functioning as the 

 V-.-ha])ed or zigzag valves in JlyaJinOBcia tuln'cola. Prof. 

 ]\l'lnt(ish, in his remarks on this genus in the ' C/hallenger ' 

 collection, says : — " Toward the posterior end a very neat 

 diaphragm Avith a minute aperture in the centre occurs; and 

 above the septum is occasionally a collection of the small 

 ovoid ffecal masses and other debris, so that this region of 

 the tube is rendered opoque " *. The rings on the tubes were 

 very ineguhir and only a few were well j)ronounce(l. The 

 tube obtained at Station 23 a was fragmentaiy and resembled 

 the quill-like tube of Ilyalinoecia tulicola, but no valves or 

 septum was present. Those dredged at Kinnaird Head and 

 ]Jiep were taken along with several Polynoida?, Serpulidai, 

 and Terebellidse, and, although quill-like, they were brown 

 in colour and very much coarser than that previou.sly men- 

 tioned. One measured aljont 8 inches long and was annidatcd 

 at short but faiily reguhir intervals, and every tenth or 

 fifteenth ring was stronger and better made than the others. 

 Another had a very marked septum at one end. One of 



* Vide ' Challenger ' Report, vol. xii. p. 376, pi. xliv. 10 a. 



