1900.] POLYNOID FROM NEW ZEALAND. 983 



similarly muddy. In other individuals, however, the body was 

 clean, indicating differences in the character of the habitat. 



The whole form of the animal shows that it moves by walking 

 or creeping rather than swimming ; and several facts indicate that 

 it lives among stones and mud, seeking prey rather in the dark 

 than in the open. For example, the head (at any rate in the dead 

 specimens) is completely withdrawn beneath the elytra, only the 

 tips of the tentacles and palps showing. The eyes are right at the 

 back of the head, and consequently are of no use unless the head 

 were protruded at least 4 mm. The anterior pair of eyes, too, is 

 much reduced (Plate LXI. fig. 4). Further, the lateral and posterior 

 edges of the body are provided with numerous elongated movable 

 feelers, protruding far enough to feel anything before it touches 

 the side of the body. Unfortunately this is all guesswork, and 

 can only be verified by observations of animals in the liviug state. 



Under the name " Aphrodita squamosa " this annelid has been 

 described by Quatrefages [4]. He puts it in his fourth division of 

 the genus Aphrodita, with the following characters : — " Espcces 

 dont les poils sont beaucoup trop courts pour former une voiite 

 dorsale, et dont les elytres sont par consequent a decouvert." He 

 made this division solely for this animal, of which he had only one 

 specimen, and he characterizes it as follows : — 



"Aphrodite ecailleuse : A. squamosa. 



" Caput parvum, distinctum, elytris prominentibus occultatiun. 

 Antenna media brevis, crassa, truncata ('?). Antennas laterales 

 duplo longiores, graciliores. Cirri tentaculares breves. Corpus 

 27 annulis compositum, mediocre elongatum. Pedes quasi 

 unireraes, prominentes. Elytra 24, maxima, rugosa, robusta, 

 corpus totum obtegentia. Cirri superes longiusculi, in mamilla 

 crassa, compressa afExi. Pili breves, in penicillum crass urn de 

 pedunculo conico orientes. Pro branchiis tubercula plus minusve 

 conica, sparsa. 



" Hab. la Nouvelle Zelande. C. M." 



Quatrefages goes on to give a more detailed description of the 

 specimen, which leaves no doubt that it is identical with the 

 subject of the present paper. His specimen was 11 cm. long and 

 4 cm. broad, which is larger than any I have had in my hands, 

 although a badly preserved one reached 10 cm. in length. The 

 median tentacle in his specimen was, as he suspected, broken off 

 short at the base. His 27 segments were completed by the anal 

 segment, which bears, as he says, no parapodia. All the other 

 points are in perfect agreement with the description given above ; 

 and further points in his description complete this harmony 

 between the accounts. He says : — 



" Le long de la ligne mediane du dos regne une sorte de gouttiere 

 oil la peau est plus lisse qu'ailleurs, et oil Ton ne distingue plus de 

 traces de la division du corps en anneaux." But he makes no mention 

 of the dorsal tubercles. 



Having thus shown this identity, I must now show that Quatre- 

 fages has placed this animal in the wrong genus. According to his 



