358 OWENIA FITSIFORMIS. 



and 165 fathoms, Dingle Bay, Ireland, 'Porcupine,' 1869, on muddy sand; Ban try 

 Bay, 3£ fathoms; Kenmare, south-west Ireland, log 55 (Royal Irish Acad.); 15—65 

 fathoms, fifteen miles west of Valentia, May 16th, 1870 ; 80—100 fathoms, St. Magnus 

 Bay, 1867-68 (J. G. J.) ; Plymouth (Spence Bate, Howe, and Allen); Torquay (Elwes) ; 

 Firth of Forth (Cunningham and Ramage). 



Elsewhere it has occurred in the Atlantic; ' Valorous,' Station 16, 1785 fathoms. 

 Mediterranean; Naples (Delle Chiaje, Grube, Bernard!, Claparecle), Lo Bianco found it 

 most frequent in water of some depth; shores of France, shallow water, Concarneau 

 (De St. Joseph) ; North Sea and shores of Norway ; Japan (Drasche) ; Atlantic Coast 

 of New England, United States of America, probably (Verrill) ; New Zealand (Ehlers) ; 

 Magellan, etc. (Ehlers); Greenland (Mcintosh, Michaelsen). 



The cephalic region (Plate CI, figs. 8 a—S d) varies in appearance when viewed 

 antero-posteriorly in spirit preparations, but in general it presents a truncated surface, 

 having dorsally a rounded elevation, the longer diameter of which is transverse; and 

 Arnold Watson describes an aperture through a network of muscular fibres at the 

 convex median part of this anterior lip, establishing communication between the coelom 

 and the exterior, a condition exceptional in the Poly ch seta, though present in the 

 Euchybra3ida3. Beneath this laterally are two lobes or lips, sometimes marked by an 

 oblique groove slanting from above downward and inward, and having the mouth at their 

 anterior border. A bilobed process (the Lippen-organ of Drasche) projects from the 

 region behind, whilst inferiorly another rounded process occupies the furrow, which is 

 finally bounded ventrally by the smooth border of the rim between the branchial 

 processes. This edge of the cephalic rim slightly recedes in comparison with the 

 dorsal, so that the surface does not form quite a right angle. In lateral view, indeed, 

 the median ventral edge is spout-shaped, though it does not project much. An eye-spot 

 lies on each side, at the base of the branchial process beyond the edge of the spout-like 

 curve. 



The cephalic rim carries three pairs of dichotomously-divided branchiae, the basal 

 regions being large and massive, the distal processes rather short and truncated. These 

 organs have their inner surfaces curved with cilia in life. As Mr. Watson 1 states, 

 " Each has a wide, very flat base and three or four branches which are sub-divided into 

 seven or more twigs, each terminated by two small, rounded, mucus-secreting lobes. In 

 British specimens the branchial processes, viewed by transmitted light, are semitrans- 

 parent, pale greenish-blue or yellow, and tinted with red ; whilst those from Naples are 

 blood-red and in parts coloured with a reddish-brown pigment." The Scotch specimens 

 have a pale brown body, paler posteriorly, and the tentacles are brown. 



The branchiae have only a notch between them dorsally, but ventrally a considerable 

 interval occurs at the slightly spout-shaped region below the mouth. These organs are 

 richly vascular. Claparede, Cunningham, and Eamage suggest that they are merely 

 outgrowths from the periphery of the mouth, and are not homologous with the branchiae 

 of the Serpulids. 



Surrounding the circlet of branchiae is a fold or collar of the body-wall, deepest 

 dorsally and becoming shallow at the ventral edge. A slight fold or notch occurs at 



1 ' Journ. Linn. Soc./ vol. xxviii. p. 231. 



