FLABELLIGERA AFFINIS. 109 



Habitat. — Occasionally between tide-marks under stones in rock-pools at St. Andrews, 

 and common in the interstices of Filograna im/plexa near the Bell Rock. Stomach of 

 haddock, St. Andrews (E. Mcintosh) ; in the crevices of the nests of Lima Mans, 

 Firth of Clyde (Dr. Grieve and Miss Newbigin) ; between tide-marks under stones in 

 rock-pools and between the valves of dead Lamellibranchs where few corallines or other 

 structures are present; and dredged on the oyster banks and in 15 fathoms off St. Peter 

 Port, Guernsey, and similarly at Herm (W. C. M.) ; Bressay Sound, 8 — 10 fathoms, 

 amongst tangle-roots (W. C. M.) ; Lamlash, Arran (Dr. Howden) ; not infrequent between 

 tide-marks at Lochmaddy, North TJist, clinging to Halichondria jpanicea under stones, and 

 again in 4—9 fathoms in the loch (W. C. M.). Plymouth (Allen); Dalkey Sound and 

 Dublin Bay (A. C. Haddon) ; Malahide, Blacksod, Clew and other bays on the west of 

 Ireland (Southern) ; Forth (Cunningham and Ramage). 'Porcupine' Expedition of 1869. 

 Appears to be generally distributed around the shores of Great Britain and Ireland, fine 

 examples being present in most of the localities named, the northern, perhaps, exceeding 

 those from the Channel Islands in size. 



Elsewhere it extends to Spitzbergen, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Finmark and 

 the shores of France, as well as to the Atlantic coast, U.S.A. (Verrill) ; Mediterranean 

 (Dujardin) ; Behring Sea and North Sea (Wiren) ; Franz- Joseph Land (Augener) ; N.E. 

 America (Moore). 



The body is enveloped by the translucent secretion of the skin-glands which permits 

 only the tips of the bristles to protrude, and the same substance makes the frontal fans of 

 bristles into complete webs, with the long slender stalks of the papillas bearing the clavate 

 or urn-shaped (lageniform) heads mingled with it. The tips of many of the urn-shaped 

 papillae indeed almost extend forward as far as the ends of the bristles (Plate XCVI, 

 fig. 10). The gelatinous secretion has in it many cells and granules, mud, minute sand- 

 grains, young annelids such as Arenicola, and other debris. When the extraneous matter 

 is removed a milky membrane remains along the sides of the body ensheathing the dorsal 

 bristles, and consisting of a more translucent secretion crowded with the clavate papillae 

 and their long stalks, besides here and there a minute Nematode. During life, indeed, 

 many small marine forms are entangled in the gelatinous investment. 



It is interesting that the urn-shaped papillae (the pedicled glands of Dujardin) 

 undergo considerable changes during the growth of the animal, for the young examples 

 have the tips longer and more slender, very little enlargement occurring at the base of 

 the urn. 



These papillae were considered to be glandular by Dujardin and Max Miiller, and 

 that they secreted mucus; tactile by Kolliker, 1 Claparede, 2 Joyeux-Laffuie 3 and Haswell 4 ; 

 whereas Delle Chiaje thought they were pedicled parasites, viz. " animacwles botry- 

 oides" ; Leuckart that they were penetrated by vascular twigs. Costa called them con- 



1 'Kiirzer Bericht/ etc, ' Wiirzb. Naturw. Zeitschr./ Bd. v, 1864, p. 248, pi. vi, fig. 7. 



2 ' Annel. Nap./ p. 37 J, pi. xxv, figs. 3c and 3d. 



3 ( Compt. Rend. Acad. So./ t. civ, p. 1378, 1887. 



4 'Trans. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales/ vol. vi, 1891, p. 340. See also Jourdan, f Ann. du Musee d'Hist. 

 Nat. Marseille/ t. iii, p. 21, pi. i, figs. 11 and 12. 



