MARPHYSA SANGUINE A. 447 



heat and close quarters in that town proved fatal. Others, however, have been sent 

 alive from Jersey to St. Andrews, and survived a considerable time. Although fragments 

 of shells have been found near their galleries, it is probable these were due to other 

 animals. The species seems to be phytivorous. 



This is one of the many additions made to the British Fauna by the acute and 

 indefatigable Colonel Montagu (1807), who searched the tidal region of the South 

 Devonshire coast with such perseverance and success, and whose figures by his niece, 

 Miss Dorville, are so useful to his successors. He observes that it is the largest 

 " Nereis " yet discovered on the British shores, extending sometimes to fifteen inches, 

 and frequenting rocky situations. The much larger Nereis virens, Sars, had not then 

 been described. 



This does not appear to be the Eunice sanguined of Delle Chiaje, 1 either in regard 

 to structure or coloration, though tentacular cirri are also absent in it. 



Milne Edwards, in one of his early papers, 2 gives a general account of the circulation 

 of this form, and compares it with the condition in Terebella. 



A paper was published by H. Koch 3 on the so-called development (viviparous) of 

 Marphysa sanguinea, but the figures and descriptions show that the author had before 

 him a parasitic Lumbriconereid such as Oligobranchus, or perhaps, as Ehlers states, 

 Nematodes. 



This form is prominently used by De Quatrefages (1865) in his description of the 

 anatomy of annelids — for he considered that its structure was both complicated and 

 superior to that of most of the Errant Annelids. Moreover, he credited it with a single 

 otocyst in the buccal segment, but Fauvel, 4 who has not actually found otocysts in any of 

 the Eunicidse, thinks a misapprehension had occurred. De Quatrefages separated the 

 American examples under the name Marphysa Leidii, but this appears to be unnecessary. 

 He also observed (1844) that an example appeared, from its coloration, to have 

 regenerated the head and adjoining segments. 



Ehlers (1868) had only an incomplete spirit-specimen for description, but his 

 account is on the whole good, though he misinterpreted the condition of the segmental 

 organs. He pointed out Koch's error in supposing that this species was viviparous, the 

 appearances having been due to parasitic Nematodes. 



Marion and Bobretzky (1875) observe that the fishermen of Marseilles employ this 

 form for bait under the name of Moureda, and they mention the occurrence of examples 

 with simple branchia3 throughout. 



Webster found Marphysa sanguinea in great abundance on the Virginian coast and at 

 various stages from 2*5 mm. to 20 cm. in length. The youngest had eighteen to twenty- 

 two feet, no tentacles, no branchise, and no indication of frontal lobes. It had bidentate 

 setee in the anterior segments. There are five eye-specks. In the next stage (2*5 to 4 mm.) 

 one tentacle is present, bidentate seta3 have disappeared from two or three of the anterior 

 segments, and there is a slight depression of the anterior margin of the head. When 



1 < Descrizione/ iii, p. 104, etc., Tav. 103, f. 9, 10, etc. 



2 < Ann. Sc. nat./ 2 e ser., t. x, p. 204, 1838. 



3 'Noveaux Mem. de la Soc. helvetique/ viii, p. 1, Taf. i and ii, 1845. 



4 ' Ann. Sc. nat./ 9 e ser., t. vi, pp. 4—7, 1907. 



