256 APHRODITA ACULEATA. 



ganglia formed a systemic trunk with hearts, the reddish colour being characteristic of 

 the various parts of the nervous system in this species. The true sanguiferous system is 

 best seen in moribund fresh examples. In the dorsal region is a membranous space (the 

 great vein) filled with -turbid lymph, and it gives off twigs between the intestinal pinnae, 

 and long branches anteriorly. He alludes to the anterior extremity of the great vein 

 over the ventriculus, and figures it. Under the intestine is a longitudinal vessel with 

 lateral branches. He noticed the perivisceral fluid and its corpuscles, and found ova in 

 June in masses therein, and also spermatozoa in males, but did not know how they gained 

 exit. It is the Soe-Muus and Gold-Muus of 0. F. Miiller in his ' Zoologia Danica 

 Prodromus ' (1776). 



In the first volume of his ' Memorie ' (1823) Delle Ohiaje refers to his figures on 

 Tav. iv, in which the exterior, the structure of the proboscis, and alimentary canal are 

 sketched. In his fourth volume (1829) he again recurs to the same form, giving a some- 

 what indifferent view of the body, several sketches indicating the arrangement of the 

 nervous and digestive systems, and the three series of bristles on the ventral surface of 

 the foot. 



Treviranus l described the external apertures of the segmental organs in Aphrodita. 

 Delle Chiaje and he regarded them as openings by which water got into the perivisceral 

 cavity ; that in reality the ciliary current moves the reverse way. 



Audouin and M. Edwards considered this the most beautiful and brilliant of all the 

 Annelids, stating that it is called the sea-mole and sea-mouse, and that it inhabits the 

 depths off shore, and also the oyster-banks. Earely is it tossed on shore. The 

 Aphrodita sericea of Savigny they could not find in the museum, while his A. aurata 

 is probably a young example of A. aculeata. 



Cams and Jourdan 2 figure the body of A. aculeata in vertical section, and also the 

 alimentary canal, but nothing is added to previous knowledge. 



In the Memorial Edition of Ouvier it is said that the flexuous bristles of Aphrodita 

 shine with all the brilliancy of gold, and change into all the tints of the rainbow. They 

 do not yield in beauty to the plumage of the humming-bird, nor to the most lively lustre 

 of precious stones. The gills are concealed by the scales, and are in the form of small 

 fleshy crests. 



Sir J. Daly ell 3 (1852) noticed the habit of elevating, or, as he calls it, recurving 

 the posterior extremity of the body, and " discharging a stream of water from an orifice 

 there." None of his specimens fed on any substance offered to them. The account of 

 the segmental organs of this species by Dr. Thomas Williams 4 seems to rest on a misin- 

 terpretation of the parts. He also states that the blood-vascular system is absent. 



De Quatrefages (1865) gives a somewhat detailed account of its external characters. 

 He records thirty-nine rings and fifteen pairs of scales, and a length of 16—17 centi- 

 metres (6 or 7 inches). He mentions an elevated cutaneous fold (facial tubercle ?) in the 

 middle line running to the mouth. The median antenna is implanted on a caruncle. His 



1 Tied, and Trevir., < Zeitsch. f. Physiol./ Bd. hi, 2, p. 157, 1829. 



2 c Traite elem. dAnat. comp./ Paris, 1835, pi. v, figs. 24, 25. 



3 ' Pow. Creator/ vol. ii, p. 171. 



4 < Philos. Trans./ 1858, p. 134, pi. viii, figs. 26, 28. 



