POLYCIRRUS MEDUSA. 191 



1886. Ereutho smitti, Marenzeller. Polarfarsc'hl, p. 15. 



1887. „ „ Webster. U.S. Com. F. k F., p. 749. 



1888 - » >, Cunningham and Ramage. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxiii, p. QQ6. 



1889. Polycirrus smitti, E. Meyer. Arch, f. Nat., ly, p. 133. 



„ Leucariste „ Levinsen. "Hauchs ■'" Annel, p. 351. 

 !894. „ „ Bidenkap. Christ. Vet.-Akad. Forhandh, p. 125. 



1897. „ „ Michaelsen. Polych. deutsch. Meere, p. 176. 



» ■ „ „ Appellof. Bergens Mus. Aarb., No. 13, p. 12. 



1899. Polycirrus medusa, Ssolowiew. Animaire Mus. Acad. Imp. St. Petersbourg, t. iv, p. 188, Tab. x, 



figs. 1, 2. 



1912. Ereutho smitti, Wollebaek. Skrift. Yicl.-selsk. Krist., pi. xx, figs. 1—4. 

 » ,, „ Meyer, A. H. Inaug. Dissert. Kiel, p. 54. 



1913. Polycirrus medusa, Augener. Zool. Anz., Bd. xli, p. 271. 



1914. „ Smitti, Southern. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xxxi, No. 47, p. 127. 

 „ Leucariste smitti, Ditlevsen. Polych. Gronland., Heft 23, Abt. 3, p. 726. 



„ Polycirrus aurantiacus, Fauvel. Campag. Scient. Monaco, xlvi, p. 309. 



1915. Ereutho Smitti, Mcintosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. xv, p. 36. 

 „ Polycirrus aurantiacus, idem. Ibid., ser. 8, vol. xv, p. 33. 



„ „ smitti, Southern. Irish Sc. Invest., No. 3, p. 47. 



1917. „ medusa, Hessle. Zool. Bidr. Uppsala, p. 220. 



Habitat. — Not uncommon near low water-mark at the East Rocks under stones and 

 between layers of rock, St. Andrews (E. & R. M.) ; on a coralline dredged in the Minch ; 

 amongst tangle-roots in 6 — 8 fathoms, Bressay Sound, Shetland (W. C. M.) ; in similar 

 places in the Forth (Cunningham and Ram age) ; Blacksod Bay, in gravel, and in sand 

 in Gal way Bay, between tide-marks (Southern). Elsewhere it has been found at 

 Spitzbergen and Greenland (Malmgren, etc.) ; 300 fathoms off Norway (Sars) ; Franz 

 Joseph Land (Augener); White Sea (Ssolowiew); Bergen (Wollebsek) ; Mediterranean 

 (Grube). Cosmopolitan. 



The cephalic region is characterised by the absence of a distinct dorsal rim, the smooth 

 spout-like supra-oral fillet passing forward in the median line, and each side, bending 

 downward, forms a broad rounded flap at the ventral edge, the arrangement being 

 symmetrical. The external margin curves outward and upward, almost to the dorsal 

 edge, then doubles sharply backward as a fillet and ceases. When the neck is viewed 

 from the dorsum these fillets are conspicuous on each side. From the entire surface of 

 this cephalic plate arise the dense mass of bright yellow tentacles which form inextricable 

 coils both in life and in spirit, whilst from the edges of the lateral flaps are many small 

 filaments. The tentacles are mobile, grooved organs capable of endless changes, now 

 flattened and again rounded, coiled and twisted in various ways, or again corrugated and 

 wrinkled. The body is pulled along by these organs, which move like linear planarians 

 over the glass. The small tentacles at the margin of the cephalic lobes keep constantly 

 coiling, and the animal soon covers itself in a glass vessel with debris of various kinds, 

 and through the meshes of its cover the long delicate tentacles everywhere emerge. 

 These tentacles in life show a pale central streak, their sides are dotted with minute 

 yellow granules, and the ridges are ciliated. Their muscular fibres form meshes, and 

 though no circular coat is apparent the oblique and connecting fibres would to a large 



