280 NEREIS CULTRIFERA. 



Buscli 1 (1851) figures a larval Nereid with four eyes and six bristled segments, the 

 posterior end having two short caudal cirri, but its identity with this species is 

 problematical. 



In the British Museum this widely distributed species has various titles, probably in 

 some cases from confusing preparations and their bottles. 



Baster 2 (1759) gives a fairly good figure of this species, with an enlarged drawing 

 of a foot. He considered the marine Nereids as the analogues of the Centipedes 

 on land. 



So far as observed the Nereis fimbriata of 0. F. Miiller, Dr. Johnston, and others is 

 only a deep-water variety, very common on the eastern shores, with somewhat longer 

 cirri and more pointed lobes to the feet. 0. F. Miiller noticed that this form, his N. 

 verrucosa, readily reproduced lost parts. 



This is probably the species figured by Montagu (MS. Drawings, Linn. Soc, Plate 

 VIII, fig. 2, 1808) as Nereis pulsatoria. 



Malmgren 3 showed that Heteronereis grandifolia, H. Rathke, was the male epitokous 

 condition of N. pelagica. 



Ehlers (1868) points out that Lyeoris margaritacea and Nereis fimbriata of Dr. 

 Johnston belong to this species, and so with the Nereis fidg ens of Dalyell. It is doubtful 

 if this author's Nereis procera from the Gulf of Georgia is other than a variety of 

 N. pelagica, and so with the same form mentioned by Langerhans from Madeira. 



Marenzeller 4 (1889) distinguishes Nereis zonata, Malmgren, from this species by the 

 colour, by the fact that only a single tooth occurs in Group I of the paragnathi, seldom 

 two, a single tooth in V, whilst in Group VI there are from five to ten, generally seven, 

 whereas only three or four are present in N. pelagica. The bristles likewise differ, and 

 whilst N. pelagica is rare in Spitzbergen, N. zonata is common. 



Cunningham 5 (1888) states : " In N. pelagica I find (neural) canals placed in the 

 positions ascribed by Mcintosh to those of N. virens. There is one dorsal median in 

 the fibrous partition between the canals, a pair corresponding to the typical pair of 

 Sigalion, and another pair consisting of one on the external border of each cord." 



Biedemann (1891) gives a minute account of the nervous system of this species, and 

 he shows large neural canals (giant fibres). 



2. Nereis cultrieeha, Grube, 1840. Plate LII, fig. 3; Plate LX, figs. 7 and 7a — head; 

 Plate LXXI, figs. 8-8 cl— feet; Plate LXXII, figs. 1-1 c— epitokous feet; 

 Plate LXXXI, figs. 1 and 1 a — bristles. 



Specific Characters. — A larger and less rounded species than the foregoing. Head 

 with a rectangular posterior part on which are the four large eyes often obscured by the 

 mottled pigment. The anterior part is furrowed and bears two short tapering tentacles. 



1 ' Beobach. Anat. Entwickel. Wirb. Seeth./ Taf. ix, figs. 11 and 12, 1851. 



2 ' Opuscula Subseciva/ Tom. ii, Lib. ii, Taf. vi, fig. 6. 



3 < Nord. Hafs- Annul./ p. 106, 1865. 



4 ' Arch. f. Naturges./ lv, p. 128. 



5 Loc. cit v p. 270. 



