THELEPUS CINCINNATI^. 173 



laminarian roots tossed on shore by storms ; under stones at extreme low water, Loch- 

 maddy, as well as in the Loch itself ; sometimes amongst masses of Serpulds from deep 

 water; dredged in 50 fathoms off Balta, Shetland (J. G. Jeffreys); Firth of Forth 

 (Leslie and Herdman) ; Isle of Arran (E. P. Wright) ; Dublin Bay; west coast and other 

 parts of Ireland (Southern) ; Plymouth (Spence Bate and B. Kowe). ' 



This form is widely distributed abroad, but has probably been confused with other 

 species. Taking, however, the literature as it is, it probably ranges from the Mediter- 

 ranean to Spitzbergen, Greenland, Finmark, Iceland, Jan Meyen, Canada, the United 

 States and Japan. Shores of France. Dredged by the " Knight Errant " at 987 metres ; 

 by the " Caudan " at 400 metres in the Gulf of Gascoigne ; Azores (Fauvel) ; White 

 Sea (Ssolowiew) ; Gulf of Mexico ; Madeira (Langerhans, Fauvel) ; Siberia and Behring's 

 Sea (Wiren); Franz Joseph Land (Augener) ; South Antarctic Seas, N.E. America 

 (Moore). 



The dorsal cephalic collar is well marked, and has posteriorly a series of eye-specks, 

 whilst the external rim passes downward to the ventral surface and joins the lower edge 

 of the supra-oral arch. A comparatively short space thus intervenes between the two 

 sides ventrally, a space which is occupied by the inner tongue-shaped process, and the 

 short fillet of the post-oral segment. The supra-oral arch is moderately prominent, but 

 limited in extent, and often forms a small spout-shaped process. It is of a deep orange 

 colour with a pale border, and a belt of minute brownish dots just below the pale rim. 

 The anterior surface of the cephalic plate is occupied by the tentacles, which are of a pale 

 flesh colour or orange with or without red specks. They are long, powerful, and 

 marked here and there with whitish opacities, probably from the peritoneal corpuscles, 

 which roll backward and forward in their interior. In some examples they are of a 

 deeper hue than those of Polymnia nebulosa, probably from the presence of the reddish 

 specks. These mobile organs are grooved throughout, and are sometimes flattened in a 

 spatulate manner and again contracted and richly crenate. Under the structureless 

 cuticle is the cellulo -granular hypoderm ; then follow the fine but tough non-striated 

 muscular fibres, circular and longitudinal. In life the slender vermiform tentacles coil and 

 twist in every direction, now showing nodular enlargements and again extending into a 

 uniform thread as before, or actively wriggling as if endowed with independent life. 

 Each granular tentacle when separated from its attachment to the cephalic plate coiled 

 itself in spasmodic jerks or gently unfolded. By their aid, as in other Terebellids, the 

 annelid pulls itself upward on the perpendicular wall of a glass vessel. The tentacles at 

 the ventral angle of the cephalic plate are small and short. The plate itself can be 

 shortened or extended at will. 



The body is typical of the Terebellids, viz., enlarged anteriorly and tapered gently 

 therefrom to the posterior end, where the anus is terminal and surrounded by about 

 a dozen papillaa. It is rounded dorsally, and more or less rugose or warty in old 

 and large specimens anteriorly, rounded also anteriorly on the ventral surface, then 

 flattened and slightly grooved, the groove continuing almost to the posterior end. 

 The segments are distinctly marked throughout, the anterior presenting dorsally four 

 transverse lines, and the longer and narrower posterior segments a larger number. 

 The ventral scutes (glandular thickenings) are well developed, and can be distinguished 



