47 60 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Family PA1MYRIDAE. 

 Chrysopetalum debile (Grube). 



1855. Palmyra debilis. Grube, p. 90. 18G4. Palmyra (Palmy- 



rapsis) Evelinae. Claparede, p. 586. 1864. CTirysojoetalum fragile. 



Ehlers, p. 81. 1906. Chrysopetalum debile. De St.-Joseph, p. 198. 



? 1897. Clvrysojpetahim occidentale. Johnson, p. 161. 



Xo member of the family Palmyridae has yet been recorded from the 

 shores of the British Isles. A single specimen dredged m 24 fms. in Clew 

 Bay belongs to the species ChrysopetaJum debile ^Grubej, hitherto known 

 from the north coast of the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Gascony, and 

 Madeira. A closely allied, if not identical, species is 0. occidentale Johnson, 

 from California. 



This specimen was one of the most unexpected of the remarkable group 

 of species of Polychaeta taken at Station W. 84, on a bottom of sand and 

 shells. 



There is nothing to add to the previous accounts of this animal. 



Habitat. — Clew Bay — One specimen dredged in 24 fms., on a bottom of 

 sand and shells. 



Distribution. — Mediterranean ; Madeira; ? California. 



Family PISIONIDAE. 



The genus Pisione, with the single species P. Oerstedii, was created by 

 Grube in 1857 1 for the reception of a peculiar Polychaete worm collected by 

 Kroyer at Valparaiso. He placed it in the family Phyllodocidae, which at 

 that period included the Hesionidae, and regarded it as a transitional form 

 between the Phyllodocidae and the Glyeeridae. 



Levinsen 2 created a new family, the Pisionidae, for its reception, without 

 defining it. 



In 1901 Ehlers 3 gave a full description of P.Oerstedi, and a new species 

 P. contractu, the latter species, however, not being very clearly differentiated 

 from the former. As regards the affinities of the family, Ehlers expresses 

 the opinion that Pisione is related to various families of errant Polychaeta, 

 such as the Aphroditidae, Xephthydidae, Hesionidae, Syllidae, and Glyeeridae. 



In the course of the Clare Island Survey, a number of specimens were 

 dredged in several parts of Clew Bay, and also in Dingle Bay, which are 



1 Annulata Oerstediana. Vid. Meddel. naturh. For. Kjobenhavn, Aar. 1857, p. 174. 



2 Kaia-Havets Ledonne. Kjobenhavn, 1886. Dijrapha-Togtes zoologisk-botaniske Udbytte, 

 p. 292. 



3 Die Polycbaeten des magellanischen und cnHeniscUen Strandes. Berlin, 1901, p. 60. 



