254 APHEODITA ACULBATA. 



The lowest bristles are still more slender (Plate XXXV, fig. 24 a), and many present 

 a remnant of the pilose coat at the tip, as in the figure. Posteriorly the hastate 

 condition is marked (Plate XXX VI, fig. 19). 



The second and third feet thus differ from the succeeding in having, instead of the 

 most ventral series just described, a tuft of somewhat slender pinnate bristles (Plate 

 XXXVI, fig. 17), the pinnae in the third foot being stronger. These probably represent 

 the primitive bristles. 



The slender feet at the posterior end of the body have ventrally a series of 

 elongated bristles, with short spikes somewhat alternately arranged distally (Plate 

 XXXVI, fig. 3). They end in a tapering tip. These bristles are further modifications of 

 the pinnate forms. 



The warts on the feet and near their bases are often coloured dark brown or 

 blackish, and in many also the general surface of the feet. 



A small specimen (1^- inches) procured in Cromarty Frith on August 31st had the 

 bases of two anterior feet fixed together by an elongated, hard, brownish mass, which 

 was sunk in the tissues, and another circular patch was near. Only an indefinite 

 granular structure was visible with the microscope, and the structure was more or less 

 calcareous, giving off gas on the addition of hydrochloric acid. Both were firmly fixed 

 in the skin. 



Reproductive Organs. — Pallas represented the ova of Aphrodita as originating in the 

 perivisceral fluid itself, a supposition in the same category as the notion that the glandular 

 wall of the alimentary canal in the Oligochgetes gives rise to the perivisceral corpuscles. 

 At Naples Lo Bianco found the males emitting sperm in March. At St. Andrews 

 specimens have abundant ova in May. The larvse have not been seen. 



The direction of the papilla of the segmental organ would apparently send the 

 reproductive elements dorsally under the felt, and as streams of water are constantly 

 pouring through this space, the ova would be duly impregnated and aerated. The 

 sperm would likewise be rapidly distributed all around. 



A specimen off Howth, Ireland, showed Loxosomse, and a delicate creeping Cam- 

 panularian on the ventral surface and between the feet. In one from St, Andrews 

 Foraminifera were thickly dotted over the ventral surface along with Balani (small), 

 great numbers of stalked Infusorians, and an occasional very young mussel. 



In the felt of the dorsum many small marine organisms are entangled, from alga3 to 

 mussels. Annelids, crustaceans, sponges, zoophytes, polyzoa, and spines of Echinoderms. 

 Small preserved specimens are proportionally broader than the adult, and taper much 

 more rapidly at either end. Such probably is partly due to rigid contraction. They 

 occur from an inch downward in the stomach of the haddock, and occasionally in the 

 stomach of the dab. 



Delle Chiaje 1 records a nematode as a parasite in the dorsal felt, and as having a 

 translucent body and a filiform tail. This is like Phoronis in the test of Cerianthus 

 from Australia. The nematode, however, may only have lodged temporarily. 



The species lives fairly in confinement, but as a rule not for a long time. The 

 difficulty of supplying it with suitable nourishment — for mud in a confined tank soon 



1 c Descrizione/ vol. lii, p. 138. 



