284 LEPIDONOTUS CLAVA. 



Reproduction. — Fine specimens from Gairloch, Ross-shire, were laden with ripe 

 ova in February, and had a dull greyish hue from the tint of the eggs. 



Habits. — It is a sluggish form. 



This is one of the discoveries of the acute and sagacious Col. Montagu on the 

 southern coast. 



Like other Polynoidas it is predaceous, masses of the bristles of Harmothoe imbricata 

 being found in the intestine, with shreds of skin and other debris. 



It is probable that Bisso's Polinoe scutellata 1 is either this or L. squamatus. 



Delle Chiaje's figures in the ' Memorie ' 3 would appear to belong to this species ; 

 the first represents the entire animal, and the second the posterior end enlarged, 

 though in the text it is termed the anterior end. 



The statement by Audouin and Milne Edwards in their ' Anneles ' that perhaps 

 Montagu's Aphrodita clava approached their Polynoe Imvis, is due to a misap- 

 prehension. The species much diverge. 



Marenzeller, 3 in 1875, reviewed the literature of this species, and showed the 

 identity of Risso's P. scutellata, Delle Chiaje's and Grube's Eumolpe squamata, and the 

 P. modesta of De Quatrefages : he also linked on the P. grubiana of Claparede 4 with 

 Montagu's form ; but the palpi (Unterfuhler) of this species present a different appear- 

 ance from those examined, since they are studded all over with papilla, whereas those of 

 L. clava have only rows of pointed papillae, as indicated by Grube, in 1860, in the 

 Mediterranean examples. Marenzeller procured British specimens from Oumbrae in the 

 Clyde. 



It is doubtful whether the form considered by Langerhans to be a young variety is 

 this species, since the palpi are smooth and the bristles diverge. 



Baron de Saint-Joseph includes the Polynoe dorsalis of De Quatrefages under 

 this species, but this is doubtful, since P. dorsalis has cilia on the external margin of 

 the scales. An examination of the specimen, however, may have shown that this is an 

 error in description. He likewise places Lepidonotus wahlbergi, Kinberg, under the 

 same head, but the foreign species differs, even under a lens, by the fact that the scales 

 throughout, that is to the last, have numerous tubercles, those in front forming pro- 

 minent spines ; and, besides, the scales of L. clava, Montagu, are proportionally larger 

 and, with the exception of first four pairs, are nearly smooth. Only in the old scales is 

 there a belt of minute tubercles within the edge, and similar minute processes over the 

 surface. These are, however, very different from those of L. wahlbergi. This distinction 

 is clearly shown in the figure 5 in the ' Challenger ' volume. Moreover, the dorsal 

 bristles are much less tapered and acute than in L. clava, the reverse being the case 

 with the ventral, which are proportionally more slender and elongate, and with a longer 

 row of spines than in L. clava. 6 



1 ' I/Europ. merid./ p. 414. 



2 Op. cit. 



3 "Zur Kenntniss der adriatischen Annel./' 'Wiener Akad. Ber./ 1 Abth., Juli-Heft, 1875, p. 1, 

 sep. Abd. 



4 A view still held by Dr. Benham, c Carnb. Nat. Hist./ " Polychset., &c," p. 310, 1896. 



5 PI. xi, f. 1. 



6 Vide Mcintosh, < Ann. Nat. Hist./ ser. 7, vol. ii, p. 108, pi. ii, f. 12, 1898. 



