444 MARPHYSA SANGUINEA. 



1903. Marphysa sanguined, Mcintosh. Mar. Invert. S. Africa, vol. iii, p. 44. 



1904 - „ „ Allen. Jonrn. M. B. A., n.s., vii, p. 225. 



1905 - „ „ Graeffe. Arbeit. Zool. Stat. Triest., xv, p. 321. 



1906 - » „ Bonn. Ann. Sc. nat., 9 e ser., t. iii, p. 101. 



Habitat— Abundant at St. Peter Port, Perelle Bay, and other parts of Guernsey, 

 and in similar places in Herm and the Gouliot Caves, Sark (W. C. M.). Polperro, Cornwall, 

 on a gravelly bottom (Laughrin). Coast of Devon (Montagu). 



Mediterranean. Adriatic (Graeffe). American coast (Leidy). Shores of France 

 (De Qnatrefages, etc.). Vinyard Sound, United States (Verrill). Virginian coast and 

 New Jersey (Webster). South Africa (W. C. M.). Angra Peqaena (Marenzeller). 



Head deeply bilobed and somewhat flattened. It bears five smooth dull yellow 

 tentacles of considerable length, the median being posterior and somewhat longer than 

 the others. The two lateral arise obliquely, one in front of the other a little exter- 

 nally and in front of the median. The tentacles generally present slight wrinkles. A 

 single eye on each side lies behind the outer tentacle and to the exterior of the inner. 

 The large flattened palpi form a continuation of the head anteriorly. 



Body 18 ins. to 2 ft. long, somewhat rounded in extension, flattened in contraction, 

 slightly tapered anteriorly and finely tapered posteriorly to the tail, which ends in two 

 cirri springing from the ventral edge of the anus, as in Nereis. The peristomial segment 

 resembles in outline that of Nereis pelagica, though the dorsal and ventral wrinkles are 

 characteristic. Behind the foregoing is a narrow segment without appendages, and those 

 which follow are also narrow. In colour it is brilliantly iridescent, with a basis of ash- 

 grey or greenish-brown, the iridescence being most marked anteriorly, where the duskier 

 hue reflects the colours more conspicuously, so as to rival the sheen of tropical beetles. 

 In large examples the body is darker in the middle from a slight development of pigment, 

 gradually becoming pale posteriorly, especially toward the tip of the tail, which is often 

 greenish. As in Nereis, the dorsum anteriorly is minutely dotted. 



Proboscis, — The maxillee (Plate LXIII, fig. 1) have a lateral flattening of the curve, 

 and a strong hook in front. A flange posteriorly indents the maxillary plate, which has 

 three teeth in front on the left and four on the right. The crescentic anterior plate on 

 the right has seven or eight teeth, the corresponding one on the left having fewer (five 

 to six), whilst the intermediate process on the left has six or seven small teeth. Some of 

 the teeth in the three plates just mentioned are not distinct. The posterior spatulate plates 

 are dark brown, the ends of the maxillge being pointed and pale chocolate brown. The 

 mandibles have a dense porcellanous plate ventrally in front (Plate LXIII, fig. 1 a), 

 with a black touch externally. The front edge is bevelled to a blunt point. The shafts 

 taper posteriorly, and are marked by longitudinal lines. 



The first foot has a slightly conical short dorsal cirrus which does not extend so far 

 outward as the upper lobe, the base of which is broad and the tip acutely conical, 

 whilst three black spines pass into it, with a tuft of simple (dorsal) bristles which 

 project above the lobe. The ventral lobe is shorter and broadly lanceolate. In the 

 second foot the dorsal cirrus extends beyond the superior lobe, and another tuft of 

 bristles (jointed) projects from that inferiorly. In the anterior feet the dorsal cirrus 

 is large and vascular. 



