446 MARPHYSA SANGITINEA. 



bevelled, whilst it is also marked by distinct striae, which slope obliquely from the 

 serrated anterior edge downward and backward (Plate LXXXIII, fig. 5 c). The distal 

 piece is articulated in the usual manner — broad at the base and tapered to a fine point. 

 A few fine striae slope obliquely downward and backward from the edge. 



Three black spines occur in front, but at the fiftieth foot two are found. At the 

 ninetieth foot only a single black spine is present, and this remains to the posterior end. 

 At the fiftieth foot, however, a pale brown spine passes at an angle from the black spine, 

 and projects at the inferior edge of the setigerous process, a little above the ventral lobe. 

 At the ninetieth (Plate LXV, fig. 14) a brown spine accompanies the black, and two 

 project inferiorly, the tips of these having wings. In the terminal segments one or 

 two black spines are present, and the oblique brown bristle has the two terminal wings 

 and is bifid at the tip. 



Habits. — These animals lurk in their long galleries in cracks and in fissures of rocks 

 at and near low water-mark, the crevices usually being filled up with dark mud or muddy 

 sand and gravel, in which their tunnels are formed. They also occur under large stones 

 lying on a sandy bottom, the posterior end of the tunnel penetrating deeply into the sand, 

 so that when the stone is raised they disappear into the tube and require a considerable 

 amount of digging to secure them, and even then only fragments may be obtained. The 

 gallery in fissures of rocks is sometimes in the form of a siphon, and is frequently more 

 than 18 ins. long. Thus the tail as well as the head of the annelid can readily be bathed 

 by the advancing tide. They do not appear to care for constant immersion, and their 

 galleries, though sheltered, are sometimes barely moist. 



When disturbed by splitting the rocks it withdraws the end of the body exposed, and 

 clings tenaciously to its tunnel. If an attempt be made to draw it out by the anterior 

 end rupture readily ensues, and however skilful the collector may be the majority of the 

 specimens are more or less mutilated. When both ends of the tunnel are exposed it 

 withdraws itself to the most distant part. In several instances at St. Peter Port, 

 Guernsey, and also at Polperro, Cornwall, the little commensal, Harmothoe marphysx, 

 McL, accompanies Marphysa in its galleries. 1 



On the whole it is somewhat sluggish in its tube, but when placed freely in a vessel 

 of sea-water it wriggles actively, making a series of screw -like coils after the manner of 

 Eteone. 



This annelid is used as bait by the fishermen of St. Peter Port and the Channel 

 Islands generally under the term " Varme," being highly prized as a tempting bait for 

 the capture of whiting pout, wrasses, and other ordinary fishes as well as dog-fishes. The 

 men search for them with spades at low water, and they are plentiful on an oyster-bed 

 to the north of the pier at St. Peter Port. If the tube passes straight into the muddy 

 sand few entire examples are procured, but if a bed of rock lies beneath seven or eight 

 inches of sand they are often captured entire. Three or four inches of the anterior end 

 of the worms are placed in vessels amongst a little black or decaying " wrack," and they 

 can thus be kept about a fortnight. If the rest of the body were retained, the worms 

 would quickly break into fragments and putrefy. 



A large example was conveyed from Herm to Norwich in August, but the great 

 1 ' Monogr. Brit. Aimel./ vol. i, p. 339. 



