424 STHENELAIS. 



6. Sthenelais ? sp. 



Specific Characters. — Head unknown. Body long and narrow. Scales on every 

 foot in the posterior region, large, covering the dorsum, reniform in outline, with a notch 

 externally as well as at the hilus, perfectly smooth on surface and border. Branchial 

 process unusually long and straight ; three ciliated pads (ctenidia) beneath it along the 

 dorsal curve. The dorsal lobe of the foot is clavate, with a long, slender papilla stretch- 

 ing from the apex. Dorsal bristles boldly spinous, and rather long. Ventral lobe forms 

 an irregular spear-head, the longer slope being inferior. Above the spine is a prominent 

 hump bearing a papilla. Inferiorly behind the lower bristles is another elevation. The 

 superior bristles are slender, ends of shafts with eight or nine whorls of spikes and 

 apparently simple tips, with many articulations. Some with stronger shafts and shorter 

 tips occur below, others being slender with a minutely bifid tip. Ventrally are bristles 

 with a few spines at the tip of the shaft, and long six- to eight-jointed tips. Ventral 

 cirrus long and subulate, and reaching as far as the apex of the foot. 



Synonyms. 

 1896. Sthenelais, n. s., Mcintosh. Sc. Proceed. K. Dub. Soc, vol. viii, n. s., p. 403. 



Habitat. — South-west Ireland, long. 45°, 325 fathoms (E. I. A. Exped., 1886). 



Read absent. 



Body seems to be long and narrow, with prominent feet. Only the posterior region 

 remains. 



Scales (Plate XXXIV, fig. 12) on every foot in the posterior fragment, large, 

 covering the dorsum of the narrow body, and reniform in outline. They are perfectly 

 smooth on surface and border, and thus differ from the other British species. A shallow 

 notch occurs at the external margin, and a more acute one at the hilus. The distribution 

 of the nerves is well seen. 



Feet (Plate XXXI, fig. 8) with an unusually long straight branchial process dorsally, 

 and three ciliated pads (ctenidia) beneath it on the dorsal curve. The dorsal lobe is 

 clavate (narrower at the base), much bevelled dorsally at the tip, and with a long 

 slender papilla stretching from the apex. The dorsal bristles form a long tuft of rather 

 boldly serrated bristles superiorly, and they diminish towards the ventral edge. The 

 ventral lobe resembles an irregular spear-head, the longer slope being inferior, and the 

 apex from which the spine projects is prominent, and bears a papilla. Above the spine 

 is a prominent hump, which also possesses a papilla. Inferiorly is another prominence 

 behind the lower group of bristles. The superior ventral bristles are slender, the distal 

 ends of the shafts having eight or nine whorls of spikes, the end apparently simple — in 

 the form of a tapering acicular process, with a needle-like tip — a condition probably due 

 to repair, since others show a many-jointed needle-like tip. Bristles with stronger 

 shafts follow — with shorter simple tips, numerously jointed. Some of the more slender 

 shafts at the ventral border of the stout series present many-jointed tips, with a minute 



