244 AUTOLYTUS EIIBIENSIS. 



(De St. Joseph). Proventriculus with thirty-two to forty-two rows of points, barrel- 

 shaped. Foot has clorsally a longer or shorter cirrus (for they appear to be more or 

 less alternate). Setigerous lobe is fused with a large globular mass behind it, perhaps 

 representing a modified ventral cirrus. It bears a group of translucent compound 

 bristles of the usual shape, the terminal piece being boldly bifid. Reproduction by 

 stolons, and it is rarely without one or more. 



Synonyms. 



1886. Autolytus ehbiensis. De St. Joseph. Ann. Sc. Nat., 7 e ser., t. i, p. 228, pi. xi, figs. 106, 107; 



pi. xii, figs. 114, 115. 

 1908. „ „ Elwes. Journ. M. B. A., n.s., vol. viii, p. 201. 



Habitat. — On Fucus covered with Sertidaria pumila growing on the breakwater at 

 Babbacombe (Elwes). 



On the shores of Dinard, France, it occurs at some depth off the coast, as well as 

 between tide-marks, amidst the forests of Sertalaria ojperculata, accompanied by swarms 

 of Gaprella linearis (De St. Joseph). 



The head is rounded in front, with four eyes arranged in a trapezoid posteriorly, 

 the anterior pair wider apart, and all with lenses. The median is much longer than the 

 lateral tentacles, and the dorsal of the tentacular cirri is fully as long. The palpi are 

 not visible, and De St. Joseph states that they are small. 



The body of the nurse-stock, which is slightly flattened dorsally and ventrally, 

 generally has a series of buds attached to it ; indeed De St. Joseph never found it without 

 a bud, whilst Major Elwes met with only two or three out of fifty or sixty examples 

 without one. It has the form of Autolytus prolifer, and has quite as remarkable a furor 

 for budding. According to the last-mentioned author, chains of five or six buds are 

 common. In the nurse-stock the dorsal cirrus of the first bristled segment is the longest, 

 the next longer than the succeeding, whilst the rest appear to have an alternate arrange- 

 ment of long and short, the two caudal cirri being considerably longer. 



The proboscis is firm, convoluted and narrow, with about thirty minute sharp points 

 on its anterior end. As, however, De St. Joseph records an example not distinguishable 

 from this species, with only twenty minute teeth, there would seem to be a considerable 

 margin for variation. The proventriculus has from thirty-two to forty-two rows of 

 points, and is somewhat barrel-shaped, slightly narrowed at each end. 



The foot (Plate LXXXVII, fig. 15 in the nurse-stock) has dorsally the longer or the 

 shorter cirrus; the former, to judge from the preparations, may reach the diameter of the 

 body. The setigerous region is fused with a large globular mass behind it, and perhaps 

 represents a modified ventral cirrus, and bears a series of translucent bristles (Plate 

 LXXXVI, fig. 16) with the ends of the shaft enlarged and bevelled for the terminal 

 piece, which is very boldly bifid as in the typical Autolytus. 



De St. Joseph found Ophryodendron annulatorum parasitic on the tentacular cirri. 



Reproduction.— This species reproduces by a male or female stolon, or by a chain of 

 stolons. According to De St. Joseph if a single stolon is found, the bristle with " article 

 en alnee " appears on the sixth segment, whereas it occurs on the fifteenth segment 

 where there is a chain of stolons. Moreover, in the case of a single bud, which is 



