222 SABELLA. 



The tubes in this group appear to be formed by the secretion of the glands of the 

 body generally, and Brunotte 1 states that an example deprived of the anterior (thoracic) 

 region secreted a tube of the ordinary structure. The ventral shields anteriorly specially 

 aid in this function. 



As a rule Sabellids are marine in habitat, but several species have been found in 

 fresh water, such as Manayimlcia sjpeciosa, Leidy, in N". America, Gaobangia biletti, Griarcl, 

 in Tonquin, and Bybowscella, Nusbaum, in the Baikal Sea, 



About twenty-seven species of Sabellids occur in the laborious memoir of Miss 

 Katherine Bush 2 from the vast area of the Pacific. 



A. Hofsommer 3 (1913) furnishes an account of the Sabellids obtained by the 

 " Poseidon " and those of Kiel Bay, and he links on the Eriographididae of Malmgren 

 as the second division of the group, characterised mainly by the absence of the collar and 

 the union of the branchial filaments by a membrane. He describes two new species of 

 Ghone and places much reliance on the thoracic glandular belts in his discrimination. 



Fifteen species occur in the careful survey of Clare Island, on the rich west coast of 

 Ireland, by Mr. Southern (1914), several not having hitherto been found in Britain. 

 Thirteen species of Sabellids are entered by Prof. Fauvel (1914) in his fine work on the 

 Polychaeta procured during the voyages of the Prince of Monaco in his yachts "Hirondelle'' 

 and " Princess Alice." In the recent (1915) list of the Polychaeta procured at Plymouth 

 by Dr. Allen thirteen species are entered and a few are exclusively southern forms. 

 Comparatively few species (e. g. from two to five) pertaining to this family as a rule occur 

 in local catalogues in the British area. These will be elsewhere alluded to. Moreover, it 

 is perhaps more difficult to separate the Sabellids by their bristles and hooks than, for 

 instance, the Terebellids, and coloration disappears as a rule in spirit-specimens. 



Mr. Crossland mentions that in the Red Sea a Sabellid grows on massive colonies of 

 Parties, the tube of the annelid lengthening as fast as the coral grows, so that its aperture 

 is always at the surface of the coral. This species is gorgeously beautiful, for its 

 branchiae form a double spire (Bispira ?), and the tubes are dotted over the coral 6 inches 

 to a foot apart, and their colours contrast with the yellowish or brown background of the 

 coral. Moreover the colours of no two are alike. In one group he saw white, bright 

 yellow, brown, red and deep violet blue. 



Genus CLXL — Sabella, Linnseus, 1758. 



Cephalic region with a deep median groove dorsally and two lateral flaps ; ventrally 

 with two flattened reflected conical lobes. The mouth opens in the centre of two 

 membranous flaps prolonged upward. The branchiae spring from a firm curved base on 

 each side of the cephalic plate and form a semicircle of long axes with pinnae devoid of 

 dorsal appendages, but occasionally with ocular points and spirally arranged. The 

 tentacles, which are about one-fourth the length of the branchiae, arise from the dorsal 

 edges of the mouth by a flattened base, and are attenuate distally. 



Body of two regions, elongated, flattened, little attenuated posteriorly and ending 



1 ' Kecher. Anat. Branchiomma,' p. 10. 



2 f Harriman Exped. to Alaska/ New York, 1905. 



3 ' Wissensch. Meeresunter./ Bd. xv, Kiel, 1913, pp. 307—361, pi. i and a map. 



