046 MR J. T. CUNNINGHAM AND MR G. A. RAMAGE ON THE 



afferent vessels to the branchiae pass off. The dorsal vessel is continued to 

 the anterior end as a thin trunk. The glandular cords end at the point where 

 the lateral vessels are given off. We have not yet ascertained if there are 

 communications in each somite, between the dorsal vessel and the lateral. 



Reproduction. — We found a number of specimens swollen with eggs, at the 

 end of March 1887, under stones, on the banks of Granton Quarry. These 

 commenced to deposit their eggs when placed in a basin of sea water. The 

 eggs were fastened together by transparent mucus, forming a soft mass without 

 any definite shape, adhering to the stones and mud among which the animals 

 were placed. On examination, the manner in which the ova escaped was 

 ascertained without much difficulty. A female individual was isolated in a 

 small glass vessel, and the surface of its body cleaned from eggs and dirt: in a 

 short time a little group of eggs appeared on the side of each somite, and on 

 examination with a lens, an egg could be seen half escaped, in several somites, 

 a little ventral to the neuropodial setas. When the animal was placed under the 

 microscope, and viewed with a low power, and with reflected light on a dark 

 background, a small round aperture was seen in the position just defined 

 where the egg was seen escaping, that is ventral to the neuropodial setse, and 

 the eggs were seen escaping slowly one by one from this aperture. The process 

 could be watched for a long time. The eggs as they escaped were enveloped 

 in mucus excreted from the skin, and so formed little groups close to the 

 aperture whence they escaped. A large individual, which though containing 

 eggs, was not quite ripe, was next examined, and the genital apertures, 

 although in this case contracted, could be seen. It was evident that these 

 genital apertures were not formed temporarily by rupture, in order to let out 

 the eggs, but definite permanent openings present throughout life. Some of 

 the females were very large, the largest measuring 9 cm. in length by 5 cm. in 

 diameter near the head. The males were much smaller, the largest being 

 5*5 cm. in length. The males had genital apertures exactly similar to those of 

 the females. Subsequent preparation of series of sections from these specimens 

 showed that the pores from which the genital product escaped were the 

 external apertures of simple nephridia, present throughout nearly the whole 

 length of the body. For a full account of the nephridial system, see a paper 

 by one of us, Quart. Jour. Micr. Sci, 1887. 



C. tentaculatus, Fleming (Montagu). 



Terebella tentaculata, Montagu, in Linn. Trans., ix. p. 110. 



Cirratulus Lamarckii, Audouin and M. Edw., Litt. de la France, ii. p. 271. 



Cirratulus tentaculatus, Johnston, Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 209. 



Andouinia filigera, Clap., Chdt. du Golfe de Naples. 



Several long coiled tentacular filaments in transverse series, arising from 



