[ 499 ] 



XIX. — On the Annelida obtained during the Cruise of H.3I.S. ' Valorous ' to Davis 

 Strait in 1875. By W. C. M c Intosh, M.B., LL.D., F.R.SS.L. Sf K, F.L.S., Sfc. 



(Plate LXV.) 



Bead June 21st, 1877. 



TOR tlie opportunity of examining the collection made during the voyage of the 

 ' Valorous,' I am indebted, as on many similar occasions, to Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, the 

 scientific chief of the expedition. The specimens were not quite in such good pre- 

 servation as those collected, for instance, in the dredging expeditions of H.M.S. 'Por- 

 cupine,' and Dr. Jeffreys's yacht ' Osprey,' since specially prepared bottles and spirit 

 were sent on these occasions. No group of marine Invertebrates is more difficult to 

 preserve in a satisfactory manner than the Annelida ; and it may not be inopportune 

 again to draw attention to the necessity of pursuing, as far as possible, the method 

 indicated below *. 



From the days of Otho Fabricius onward the Annelids of the Greenlandic seas have, 

 in comparison with those of other parts, received unusual attention. Thus, besides the 

 mention of between 40 and 50 marine Polychseta by the foregoing author in 1780, 

 A. S. CErsted published, in 1843, his ' Gronlands Annulata Dorsibranchiata,' a work 

 illustrated by eight good lithographic plates. He described about three dozen species, 

 and calculated that at least fifty Greenlandic dorsibranchs were known. Moreover, in the 

 year 1818, it was in the same region (Baffin's Bay) that Sir John Boss discovered the great 

 depth at which marine animals lived, by dragging tip from 1000 fathoms a fine Astro- 

 phyton and mud containing " Lumbricus tubicola " (? Kyalincecia tubicola, O. F. Muller). 

 The laborious papers of Dr. Malmgren of Helsingfors, which include the Greenlandic 

 collections made by O. Torell and Amondsen, give us, with the exception of the remarks 

 of Mobius (which I have not seen) the most recent enumeration of the Annelidan 



* On removing the Annelids from the dredge or collecting-jar they should be immersed for some hours in large 

 flat vessels containing the strongest methylated spirit, or, if this is inconvenient, placed sparingly in capacious bottles 

 of the same fluid. After the lapse of two or three hours they should be taken out of the large flat vessels and put 

 in separate bottles (few in each) of the same spirit. In the case of those immersed in the latter at first, the liquid 

 should be poured off and replaced by fresh spirit. It is during the first twenty-four hours that the greatest care is 

 necessary ; for if by inattention the specimens are allowed to soften, their subsequent preservation is always 

 unsatisfactory. The bottles should be systematically surveyed again -within a day or two ; and, as a rule, in anv 

 case in which the colour of the spirit is deep or its transparency clouded, the fluid should be removed and fresh spirit 

 or absolute alcohol again added. In some collections the annelids are only represented by their cutieular coats 

 enclosing, as in a bag, a mass of pulp : much time is lost in specific determination, while for thorough investigation 

 they are worthless. Further, there is generally no difficulty in preserving the majority of the hard)'' forms alive for 

 many months in deep bottles half filled with sea-water, and, in the case of those which bore in sand, a layer of the 

 latter on the bottom. One or two specimens only should be placed in each jar ; and all should be supervised daily 

 in hot weather, for the removal of the injured and dead and the renewal of the sea-water. 



