304 NEREIS DUMERILII. 



1867. Iphinereis fucicola, idem. Annul. Polych., p. 58, Taf. v, f. 29, 30. 



1868. Heteronereis Malmgreni, Claparede. Annel. Nap., p. 173, pi. xi, f. 1. 

 1870. „ fucicola, idem. Annel. Nap. Suppl., pi. hi, f. 4, 5. 

 1874. Iphinereis fucicola, Malm. Goteb. vet. o. vitt. HandL, xiv, p. 84. 



„ Hetercmereis viridis, idem. Ibid., p. 85. 



Habitat. — Abundant on both the eastern and western coasts of the British 

 Islands, though its headquarters are on the western and the southern shores. On the 

 east coast, as at St. Andrews, it generally occurs in deep water or is tossed on 

 shore by storms, its tubes being attached to the empty valves of Gardium echinatum and 

 other mollusks. Off the western shores it frequents both deep and shallow (laminarian) 

 zones, being especially common in the latter in four to six fathoms. Its tough tubes are 

 often met with in the interior of decayed laminarian stalks, or in peat, whilst one took 

 advantage of a partially open egg-capsule of a skate. In Loch Portan, near Lochmaddy, 

 where there is a considerable admixture of fresh water, the tubes (with the annelids in 

 the interior) are common. In deep water they are often fixed to the large red Ascidians 

 of the Minch and other western seas. 



In the south, as in the Channel Islands, it seems to take the place of Nereis pelagica 

 of the north, and is found in crevices and fissures of the rocks between tide-marks, as well 

 as in the adjoining sea. It is not uncommon in the stomachs of cod and haddock in St. 

 Andrews Bay, especially the epitokous Iphinereis fucicola (E. M.). It occurs on the 

 eastern, western, and southern shores of Ireland (e. g. Loch Slyne, Co. Cork, Roy. Irish 

 Acad. Expect., 1866) ; Bay of Galway (Prof. E. P. Wright). 1 



It is very plentiful in the Mediterranean, and since it ranges to Norway and Sweden 

 its distribution is wide : Black Sea (Bobretzky) ; St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands ; Japan 

 (Marenzeller) ; Norway (Malmgren) ; Canaries (Langerhans) ; Virginian coast (Webster). 



Head longer than broad, with four large and sometimes reddish eyes, the anterior 

 pair wider apart. In a few preserved examples a little pigment occurs on each side in 

 front of them. In some from deep water the elevated central region has a wedge-shaped 

 patch of white, with a median furrow running from the posterior pair of eyes to the tip 

 of the snout. The tentacles are of moderate length and subulate. The long tentacular 

 cirri, for which the species is remarkable, range from rather more than one fifth the 

 entire length of the annelid to one third in small examples, and are pale greenish. These 

 tentacular cirri are obliquely situated, the longest being the most posterior and dorsal. 



Body 2± ins. in length and of seventy to eighty segments. Colour, yellowish-brown 

 on the dorsum, some being more deeply tinted than others, and marked by the red dorsal 

 vessel. The surface of the anterior fifth is minutely clotted with brown, and more brightly 

 iridescent than the rest of the dorsum. At every segment-junction minute white dots 

 occur over the central vessel. Behind the anterior fifth minute white grains are 

 distributed over the whole dorsum, and very distinctly towards the tip of the tail, which is 

 terminated by two long cirri. The tips of the feet (not the cirri) are whitish in the 

 caudal region and for some distance forward. Some small specimens from deep water 

 are of a greenish yellow, the dorsum being speckled with rather large yellow grains, 

 which over the region tinted brownish by the intestine are arranged in two rows. 

 1 The recent death of this genial naturalist deprives both zoology and botany of an ardent worker. 



