132 MR. CYRIL CROSSLAND ON THE [Juue 16, 



OnupMs and the cirriform gills of Hycdinoecia, or even the complete 

 absence of gills {Paronuphis), so that in some cases the only 

 distinction available is that provided by the presence or absence 

 of tentacular cirri. 



Genns Diopatea. 



DiOPATRA NEAPOLITANA Clap. (Plate XIY. fig. 1.) 

 Since Grube's enumeration in 1877* of eighteen species but 

 few fresh descriptions have been published (Langerhans, D. madeir- 

 ensisf ; Ehlers, Z>. chilensist, redescribed). This fact, and the 

 very local distribution of the species given, probably indicate the 

 existence of a very considerable amount of synonymy, though 

 Kinberg's seven species^ assuming the correctness of his figures, 

 are distinct. It is thus the more remarkable that the species 

 should have so wide a distribution as from the Mediterranean to 

 the East coasts of Africa and Xorth America §. 

 • The species is so abundant at low spring-tides on any sandy or 

 muddy shore in East Africa, that it is strange that it has not been 

 before recorded from this locality. The material of the tubes 

 varies with the habitat — on a sandy beach being built of shell- 

 fragments or small stones, the edges always projecting horizontally, 

 on muddy shores the grass-like leaves of Zostera or any suitable 

 vegetable fragments being employed. Only the projecting and 

 the upper two or three inches of the buried portions are thus 

 strengthened, the remainder being soft and collapsable. 



Dark green and umber-brown coloured varieties of the animal 

 occur, both coloiu's being destroyed by a brief immersion in alcohol. 

 The only specimen I obtained from below the level of lowest tides 

 (from 10 fathoms in Wasin Harbour, the mainland coast) shows a 

 third distinct variety ||. 



The living worm Avas red- (not umber-) brown anteriorly, the 

 colour remaining distinct after immersion in strong spirit for 

 more than a year. The gills were red, the colour of the blood 

 not being hidden by green and brown pigments as in the 

 preceding varieties. Structurally, I find this specimen to agree 

 with the shore forms. The presence of similar pigmentation in 

 preserved specimens obtained from Naples suggests that this 

 colour variety occurs there also, and is probably the variety 

 of colour which is described by Claparede as '■'■ ferrugineuse." It 

 is possible, of course, that gxeen, umber, and red-brown -pigments 

 may occur occasionally in the same individual, though I have not 

 seen cases of this in East Africa. 



The lack of perfect completeness in ClaparMe's account, and the 

 obviously diagrammatic nature of at least two of his figures, made 

 it impossible to decide whether I was examining a nearly related 

 species or a variety only. A comparison of specimens obtained 

 from Naples with my own from Zanzibar has enabled me to 



* ' Mittli. iiber die Familie der Euniceen,' Naturw. Scliles. Ges. 1877. 



t Z. Wiss. Zool. xxxiii. pp. 513-593. 



X ' Polych. des Magal. u. Chil. Strandes,' 1901. § Andrews, loc. cit. 



II Very numerous tubes were dredged from 3 fathoms in one spot in Chuaka Bay. 



