AMPHARETE ACUTIFRONS. 69 



Each bears laterally the slender, tapering cirrus and beneath it the small elongated 

 lamellge for the hooks, which are considerably smaller than those in front, but have a 

 similar structure. If anything they are shorter and broader than those of the anterior 

 region and show five or six teeth and a rounded prow. 



The general colour of a Zetlandic example is pale orange anteriorly from the wall of 

 the gut, whilst the posterior region is pale with the brownish line of the intestine. The 

 processes anteriorly are of a pale amber hue. 



Fauvel found Gregarines in the alimentary canal. This author's account of the 

 external and internal structure of Ampharete Grubei is both comprehensive and 

 complete. 



Cunningham and Eamage 1 (1888) enter Ampharete gracilis from the Forth, but a 

 further investigation is necessary, and unfortunately all the specimens collected by these 

 authors have disappeared. 



A careful account of the tube of this species and its formation is given by Fauvel 

 (1897). It is composed of shell-fragments and secretion and is placed vertically on the 

 bottom, one half with thinner walls immersed in the sand and the other part with thicker 

 walls projecting from the surface. 



Prof. Fauvel 3 (1901) severely criticises the statements of M. Cosmovici concerning the 

 segmental organs, especially his view that when the nephridia do not carry the repro- 

 ductive elements externally they do not communicate with the coelom by a ciliated 

 funnel, and that when present the latter does not open into the preceding segment. 

 Fauvel especially quotes his observations on the nephridia of Ampharete Grubei, in which 

 only two pairs occur, viz., one piercing the anterior thoracic diaphragm, the other behind 

 it. The former is solely excretory, the latter gives passage to the genital products. 



Ehlers 3 (1875) mentions the occurrence of Ampharete Goesi, Malmgren, in the 

 " Porcupine " Expedition of 1869 at a depth of 767 fathoms, 59° 35' N., 9° 11' W. It is 

 a northern form, and may yet occur nearer the coast of Britain. 



Besides the foregoing a form procured between tide-marks at St. Peter Port, 

 Guernsey, offers certain differences, though it likewise has fourteen pairs of bristle-tufts 

 anteriorly. Its hook has almost uniformly only five teeth, and its figure (Plate CXXIV, 

 fig. 4 c) is somewhat broader than that of Ampharete acutifrons, to the hook of which 

 Malmgren assigned six to nine teeth, whilst Hessle gives five for the anterior and ten for 

 the posterior hooks. Moreover, he states that the hooks of both Ampharete Goesi and 

 A. gracilis have five teeth, whilst Malmgren gives seven for the former and five or 

 six for the latter. A similar though minute form occurs in St. Magnus Bay, Shetland, 

 with six teeth as a rule to each hook. Unfortunately all the specimens were injured and 

 incomplete so that uncertainty at present exists, and it would seem that the specific 

 characters of several species of Ampharete need revision. There are probably two or 

 three to be added to the fauna. 



1 ' Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin./ vol. xxxiii, p. 659, pi. xlii, fig. 20. 



2 'Bull. Sc. France et Belgique/ t. xxxvi, p. 167. 



3 < Zeitsch. f. wiss. Zool./ Bd. xxvi, p. 27. 



