OPHELIA LIMACINA. 11 



1888. Ophelia limacina, Cunningham and Ram age. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., vol. xxxiii, p. 654. 



1890. „ ,, Malaquin. Annel. Boulon., p. 46. 



1891. „ „ Hornell. Trans. Biol. Soc. I/pool., vol. v, p. 247. 

 1894. „ „ Bidenkap. Christ. Yid. Selsk. Forh., p. 103. 



1896. „ „ Benham. Camb. Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 332. 



1897. ,, ,, Michaelsen. Polych. deutsch. Meere, p. 136. 



1898. „ „ Idem. Gronland Annel., p. 127. 



„ „ bicomis, De St. Joseph. Ann. Sc. nat. 8 e ser., t. v, p. 380. 



1907. „ limacina, Fauvel. Bull. Inst. Ocean., No. 107, p. 25. 



1908. „ „ Mcintosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. i, pp. 375 and 387. 

 1908. ., Rathkei, Mcintosh. Ibid., p. 375 (young). 



1910. „ limacina, Southern. Proc. Royal Irish Acad., vol. xxviii, p. 240. 



Habitat. — Fine specimens are abundant after storms on the West Sands, and 

 occasionally on the East Sands, St. Andrews, and it is also dredged on the sandy ground in 

 the Bay. Not uncommon in the stomach of the haddock, often in company with green-pea 

 urchins, ophiuroids, and sessile-eyed Crustacea (E. Mcintosh). Near low water on various 

 parts of the Scottish shores. Forth (Cunningham and Ramage). Firth of Forth (Leslie 

 and Herdman). Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin (Southern). 



Abroad it extends to Greenland (CErsted, Michaelsen, etc.), Spitzbergen (Fauvel, etc.), 

 Iceland and Norway (H. Rathke, Malmgren, and A. M. Norman), generally on muddy or 

 sandy ground. 



In all probability the same or a closely allied form frequents the Atlantic Coast of 

 the United States of America (Verrill, Webster, and Benedict). Northern Seas (Wiren). 



Head (Plate XCV, figs. 1 and 1 a) forming an acute cone which may be useful in boring, 

 as it is rendered tense by the waves of the perivisceral fluid, which also sometimes cause the 

 proboscis to protrude as a pink frilled mass marked by fine grooves. The strong muscles 

 of the region behind also probably aid in stiffening the pointed snout. Though no nuchal 

 organs have been seen in the living forms tossed on the beach, they may occur under more 

 favourable circumstances. 



Body 2 to 2Jin. in length, somewhat fusiform, the widest part being usually about 

 the anterior third or fourth; rounded dorsally, but deeply grooved on the ventral surface, 

 the powerful ventral longitudinal muscles forming a prominent ridge at each side. The 

 body diminishes abruptly posteriorly, and ends in a vent surrounded by about a dozen 

 short cirri, two much larger being ventral, and occupying a similar position to those in 

 Ammotrypane aulogaster (Plate XCV, figs. 1 b to 1 d). The dorsal processes are figured by 

 Rathke as much fewer and shorter than in the well-developed forms from St. Andrews. 

 The surface is finely annulated, a feature due to the transverse linear thickenings of the 

 skin, a double line indeed being seen under the microscope, and occasionally the line is 

 forked. The alimentary-canal is usually filled with sand. 



Colour when fresh of a deep pinkish red, with iridescence of the surface, which 

 sometimes, especially in confinement, shows a pale lilac or bluish tint. The colour, 

 however, alters after a brief confinement, and the general hue on the second day is a 

 greyish pink with a tinge of lilac. The two short and somewhat thick ventral cirri below 

 the anus remain of a bright red after the rest of the body has become pale. The cutaneous 



