718 Transactions of the Society. 



worm-like course on the surface of the guttapercha. No animals, 

 or even fragments of animals, were found in any of the passages. 

 The varied character of the materials traversed shows that it was 

 by mechanical aud not chemical means that the borings were 

 effected. Amongst numerous worms brought up at the same time 

 as the cable, was one so peculiarly fitted by the structure of its 

 jaws to penetrate bodies of varied hardness and texture that I fancy 

 we have found in it tbe chief culprit. 



Should this annelid prove new to science, I propose for it the 

 generic name of Litlwgnatlia ivorslei, from the most remarkable 

 feature in its structure, the possession of a pair of calcareous jaws 

 in addition to three pairs of chitinous ones. The specific name 

 I have given from the captain of the ship, whose care and skill in 

 preserving the animals found has enabled me to examine some of 

 the most important features in the structure of this creature, and 

 to whom also is due the credit of recognizing that the faults were 

 probably due to the boring of some annelid. 



The largest of these worms was 72 mm. long, and about 4 in 

 breadth. It was readily distinguished from the other polychaetous 

 annelids with which it was associated, by the marked shortness of 

 the lateral appendages and somites. As most of the worms had 

 the jaws protruded, the white shelly plates that formed one of the 

 pairs at once attracted attention, and looked as if the creature had 

 died in the act of swallowing a small bivalve shell. 



Each inferior jaw consists of two parts continuous with one 

 another, viz. a broad calcareous piece in front, and a process 

 behind of a more horny character. The broad piece is roughly 

 triangular and curved so as to present an inferior convex and 

 superior concave surface. Its outer border is curved upwards, 

 forming a rounded crest, which in front forms a blunt projection, 

 whilst behind it tapers off to a point. The anterior margin is 

 somewhat thin, and ridges on its under surface give it a toothed 

 character. This edge terminates below in a tubercle which is in 

 contact with that of the other jaw. From the tubercle the inner 

 margin passes backwards to form the inner edge of the process. 



On the inferior aspect the distinction between the anterior part 

 of the jaw and its process is very marked ; along this line and a 

 corresponding one on the upper surface the cuticle is attached so 

 that the whole of the broad portion of the jaw projects freely above 

 the soft parts. 



A point in the thickened outer border three-quarters the 

 distance from its anterior extremity appears to have been the part 

 first formed, as around it are regular contour hues, which run 

 parallel to the margin of the plate, greatly adding to the resem- 

 blance it bears to the shell of a Lamellibranch. Brown pigment is 

 deposited in the contour lines in a triangular area whose apex is at 



