290 GATTYANA CIRROSA. 



In a specimen from Godhaven Harbour (Disco Island) the body was dotted with 

 rounded or ovoid whitish structures beneath the skin. They consisted of a mass of well- 

 defined granules, generally of a somewhat ovoid shape and a double outline. 



The parasitic crustacean, Sellius bilobus, occurs on the dorsum under the scales in 

 northern forms, and seems to be a large parasite for so small an annelid. 



Fine specimens are procured in the tubes of AmpMtrite figulus (Dalyell) under lar^e 

 stones near low- water mark of spring tides at St. Andrews. They occupy the anterior end of 

 the tube. All the examples were large, but the alimentary canal of those examined showed 

 no recognisable food. The species probably finds in this and other tubes a safe refuge and 

 sufficient food. It is, moreover, phosphorescent, irritation causing a very pale greenish 

 or yellowish light to illuminate the scales. The phosphorescence is less vivid than in 

 Harmothoe imbricata and Polynoe scolopendrina. As a rule, Gattyana occupies a position 

 close to the mouth of the long tube of the AmpMtrite beneath large stones, so that it is 

 well protected from marauders, even supposing they were attracted by its light. In the 

 same way its opportunities for alluring animals are curtailed, so that the remarks formerly 

 made in this connection still hold. 1 



To sum up, the British species differs in the softer and much smoother scales, the 

 horny papillaB being microscopic, and in the shorter, smooth tips of the ventral bristles, 

 which tips are likewise more attenuate in the Arctic forms. The innermost bristles of 

 the dorsal series appear also to be stouter and shorter in the Arctic forms. 



Pallas (1776) was somewhat in doubt about this species, which had been sent him in 

 a rather softened condition by Gronovius from the northern seas, and thought it might be 

 an older form of his Ajphrodita lepidota, though the structure of the feet differed. Both 

 description and figures are imperfect, and in fig. 6, Plate VIII, the foot is inverted, but 

 Malmgren is right in identifying it with this species. The general pallor struck Pallas. 

 He mentions the " scabrous " condition of the posterior margin of the scales, and the 

 elongated yellowish dorsal bristles. The description given by Fabricius (1780) is quite 

 recognisable, and the dull greenish colour dorsally, the pale ventral surface, with the 

 hispid scales, are characteristic. Savigny (1820) added nothing to the remarks of 

 Fabricius. 



Johnston (1839), both in this paper and in the subsequent remarks in the ' Catalogue,' 

 gives only Montagu's description. GErsted's figures (1843), rather than his descrip- 

 tion, show that this was the species to which he referred in both publications. He also 

 gives its habitat as in the deeps of Greenland. Sars (1861), in his account of the 

 Norwegian Polynoidx, gave descriptions of both a Polynoe scabra, Fabr., and P. scabriuscula, 

 n. s. ; but Malmgren has rightly decided that these refer to the same species, considerable 

 variation occurring between the Arctic and the more southern examples. De Quatrefages 

 (1865) seems to have had no personal acquaintance with G. cirrosa, but mentions that 

 Linnaeus gave twenty pairs of scales to his form, and that it requires re-investigation. 



This species was procured at a depth of 230 metres on mud during the Austrian 



North Polar Expedition. Mobius states that it occurs in Greenland in 4 — 12 fathoms. 



In the account of the annelids of Nova Zembla, Theel (1879) says that forms 45 mm. in 



length come from the Kara Sea. Yerrill (1879) includes it in his list from Cape Cod 



1 ' Ann. Nat. Hist/ 4th ser., ix, p. 1, January, 1872. 



