1886. 



)} 



1889. 



>> 



1890. 



Hediste 



i> 



Nereis 



a 



y> 



1891. 



» 



1893. 



» ' 



1902. 



>) 



1904. 



)) 



1905. 



)) 



1906. 



Hediste 



1908. 



Nereis 



314 NEREIS DIVERSICOLOR. 



1885. Nereis diversicolor, Cams. Fauna Medit., p. 221. 



Schroder. Anat.-liistol. Untersnch., 1886, 8vo. (Ratlienow). 

 „ Menclthal. Untersuch. Mollnsk. u. Annel., iv, p. 8, pi. i, f. 1—9 



(Konigsberg) . 

 „ Malaquin. Annel. Bonlon., p. 31. 



Gh'ard. Bull. Sc. Fr. et Belg., t. xxi, p. 275. 

 „ idem. Ibid., t. xxii, p. 78. 



(Hediste) diversicolor, Horn el. Trans. Biol. Soc. Liverp., vol. v, p. 241. 

 diversicolor, Levinsen. Yidensk. Ud. ' Hauchs/ p, 329. 



„ Mcintosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. x, p. 256. 



„ Allen. Journ. M. B. A., n.s., vol. vii, p. 224. 



Graeffe. Arbeit. Zool. Stat. Triest, xv, p. 322. 

 Bohn. Ann. Sc. Nat., 9 e ser., t. iii, p. 86. 

 Horst. Tijdschr. d. Nederl. Dierk. Yereen (2), Dl. xi, p. 139. 



Habitat. — Abundant on various parts of the coast near high- water mark from the 

 northern to the southern shores of Britain and Ireland. Thus, at St. Andrews, it 

 frequents clayey ground near the shore-bridge in water that must frequently be brackish. 

 At Perrelle Bay in Guernsey it inhabits holes which it apparently bores in the peat not 

 far from high-water mark, the surface being studded with hundreds of holes of various 

 sizes. It is also tossed on shore at St. Andrews after storms, which dislodge it from its 

 tunnels. It occurs at Plymouth, where the density of the water is low (Allen), and 

 Benham found it in brackish water at Bembridge, Isle of Wight. 



A species very generally distributed on the shores of the North Sea, the Baltic, 

 the Channel, and other European coasts, as well as in the Mediterranean. Japan 

 (Marenzeller). 



Read (Plate LX, fig. 11) somewhat triangular and mottled with brownish pigment. 

 Anteriorly the apex of the triangle terminates in two short tentacles, which are about a 

 third the longitudinal diameter of the head. The palpi end anteriorly in tapering 

 extremities (in life). The eyes, which are of moderate size, are situated far back, the 

 posterior pair being near that border of the head, the anterior a little in front and wider 

 apart. The tentacular cirri are of moderate length, the longest, as usual, being the dorsal 

 of the second pair, which in life is considerably longer than the diameter of the body. 

 The basal segment (cirrophore) is tinted brownish, the cirri being translucent greenish. 



Body of 120 bristled segments, and 3 to 4 ins. in length, thick and rounded anteriorly, 

 thinner posteriorly, where it tapers to a delicate tail with two cirri. It is only slightly 

 tapered anteriorly. The dorsal surface is rounded, the ventral flattened. The greatest 

 breadth is about the eighth or tenth segment. The peristomial segment is about twice 

 the breadth of the succeeding 1 . 



o 



The general colour is yellowish brown, duskier anteriorly and greenish at the sides, 

 from the feet. The dorsal blood-vessel makes a sinuous streak from the anterior to the 

 posterior extremity, and the vascularity of the feet also gives a tone to the greenish sides. 

 In some from Southport (Dr. Carrington) the colour ranged from dark green to orange. 

 De St. Joseph describes French examples as having a longitudinal brown line on each 

 side of the median dorsal vessel. 



The proboscis (Plate LX, figs. 11 and 11 a) has two brownish maxillae, translucent 



