DE. W. C. M'iNTOSH Olif THE PHTLLODOCID^. 215 



in a torpid state the return of the rains." Again in water, they 

 swim about, use their branchiae ; and with an augmented arterial 

 circulation their activity returns, appetite increases, and propaga- 

 tion commences. 



"Whether the Indian amphibious fishes likewise maintain an 

 outlet to the atmosphere, I have not been able to ascertain ; but 

 that in some conditions eels do so is indisputable. Tarrell ob- 

 serves, respecting eels burying themselves, that the people of 

 Somersetshire know how to find the holes in the banks of the 

 rivers in which eels are laid up, by the hoar-frost not lying over 

 them as it does elsewhere, and dig them out in heaps*. 



Note on a new Example of the Phyllodocidse {Anaitis rosea). 

 By W. C. M'Intosh, M.D., F.E.S.E., F.L.S. 



[Eea4 February 15, 1877.] 



In the Catalogue of the Annelida in the British Museum the 

 precise habitats of the Phyllodocidse are very slightly alluded to. 

 Thus, in regard to the common, though very beautiful, Phyllodoce 

 macidata, Johnst., " Berwick Bay " is all the information afforded. 

 At St. Andrews and other parts this species (which corresponds 

 in colour and some other respects with the P. citrina of Malm- 

 gren) is very often found at the extreme margin of low water, 

 several inches in the fine sand ; and last autumn a single example 

 of the new Anaitis occurred with it at the former locality. 



The family Phyllodocidse is at present a somewhat difficult one 

 to study, because the bodies of the animals are both soft and 

 friable, and lose many of their characters soon after preservation 

 in spirit. Hence, in adopting Dr. Malmgren's generic title 

 Anaitis, I concur with M. Claparede in doing so simply to avoid 

 complication in synonymy. 



The genus Anaitis is characterized by the fact that while the 

 first three pairs of tentacular cirri are borne by the buccal seg- 

 ment, the fourth pair occur on the succeeding one ; but much 

 greater precision is yet required in this group. 



Anaitis rosea is a small species, measuring about an inch and a 

 half ; but the tail is absent in the specimen. The head is pale ante- 



* Although I have not personally seen any Cyprinidas exhumed out of 

 dried-up mud, still that such does occur in the East appears to be proved by 

 sufficiently good authority. In fact, in Eui'ope carps bury themselves in the 

 mud, and pass months without eating, assembled in great numbers side by side. 



