L^ETMATONIOE FILICORNIS. 259 



Atlantic on Holtenia-ground or stones and coral, and even to the depth of 1950 fathoms 

 ('Knight Errant'), and is found on the shores of America (Verrill) and Canada 

 (Whiteaves). Northward it is met with in the Faroe Channel, while Grube gives from 

 Bohuslan along the Norwegian coast to Finmark. A few examples were dredged along 

 with Hermione on the oyster-ground off St. Peter Port, Guernsey, but it is absent along 

 the eastern shores from the Pentland Frith to the south coast. 



Head. — The head (Plate XXVII, fig. 2) is somewhat rounded, the median separated 

 from the lateral region by two curved longitudinal grooves. The tentacle arises between 

 and rather behind the ocular peduncles above the conical basal segment, and is a 

 long, slender process gently tapering towards the tip, then slightly enlarging, forming a 

 constriction, and lastly a bulbous swelling as shown in the figures. In none of the 

 examples, however, did the tentacle reach the length of the great palpi, as Kinberg says, 

 nor could Baird's description as "short and conical" apply. Its length, probably from 

 injury, varies, but the longest are far short of the palpi, so that Kinberg' s were either 

 recently reproduced or varied in this respect. It agrees in form with a dorsal cirrus. 

 The somewhat globular ocular peduncles occur on each side of the former, and in the 

 preparations are devoid of pigment. The long palpi spring from each side of the facial 

 tubercle in front, and have a smooth basal articulation, from which they gently taper till 

 near the extremity, when a somewhat elongated dilatation occurs, after which the tip 

 tapers to a fine point. The whole organ beyond the basal articulation is setose with 

 long, sharp papilhe, which are finer on the distal region (Plate XXXVII, fig. 2). The 

 slight enlargement below the tip is not evident in every example, probably from injury, 

 but it. seems to be present in the most perfect. 



The facial tubercle has numerous long, mammillate papilla?, thus differing much 

 from Aphrodita aculeata (Plate XXXVI, fig. 24). 



The body is somewhat flattened, elongate ovoid, about equally tapered at both ends, 

 though from the contraction of the parts and the condition of the feet the posterior end 

 often has a slightly broader aspect. The dorsum is covered with a greyish felt, and the 

 sides are flanked by the proportionally large and iridescent brownish bristles. These do 

 not overlap the dorsum as in other species, only a few of the shorter bristles spreading 

 slightly over the outer edge of the felt, 1 which is usually coated with sand, and is so 

 flexible as to take wrinkles from the edges of the scales. The dorsal felt is formed of a 

 moderate number of very fine hairs tapering to an attenuate point, and connected 

 together by a fibrillar gelatinous basis, which has sand-grains, diatoms, and other algae, 

 mud, and foreign particles of various kinds, e.g. sponge-spicules and anchors of 

 Synaptge, in it. So far as observed the fine hairs do not terminate in hooked points as in 

 A. aculeata; they spring from the inner edge of the dorsal division of the foot. The 

 felt is friable, thicker, however, in the larger and older specimens, and more easily torn 

 and gelatinous in the smaller. The delicate dorsal cuticle under the felt is smooth, and 

 the body-wall of this region is much thinner than in Hermione. The long bronzed 

 spines extend posteriorly somewhat beyond the line of the feet, terminate nearly in a 

 transverse line with the body, and give a truncated outline to the region in contrast 



1 Gruhe thought only mucus was present. 



