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



have not seen these, but our specimens were contracted, and we have not 

 dissected them. Our specimens were identified by Prof. M'Intosh himself, 

 and our only object here is to record the occurrence of this curious form in 

 the Clyde sea-area, as the specimens sent to Prof. M'Intosh were taken by 

 Mr Jeffreys among the Hebrides in 1866, and off Shetland in 1867. We 

 have never found the species in the Firth of Forth, but have nevertheless 

 taken this opportunity of mentioning its occurrence in the Clyde. 



Fam. Ammocharidj;, 

 Genus Owenia, Delle Chiaje. 

 Owenia filiformis, Delle Chiaje ; Claparede, Chset. Naples. 



Commonly got by dredging, inhabiting very thin flexible sand tubes, from 

 which it is very difficult to detach it entire. 



In small specimens the mouth is surrounded by a funnel-shaped lip quite 

 entire except for a ventral notch. It is only in the larger specimens that the 

 branched processes are seen. It seems from this that they are merely out- 

 growths from the periphery of the mouth, and have not really any connection 

 with the branch ise of the Serpulidse, as suggested by Claparede. 



Fam. AMPHICTENIDiE. 



Pectinaria belgica, Lamarck (Pallas). 



Nereis cylindraria belgica, Pallas, Misc. Zool., p. 122. 



Pectinaria belgica, Lam., Amm. s. Vert., p. 350 ; Johnston, Cat. Brit. Mus.; 



Malmgren, Nordiska Hafs-Annulater Svensk. Akad. Forh., 1865, 



p. 356 ; M'Intosh, Fauna, St Andrews. 



Mr Harvey Gibson (" Notes on some of the Polychseta," First Report on 

 the Fauna of Liverpool Bay, Lond., 1886) has, by carefully neglecting the 

 distinguishing differences between this species and Amphitrite auricoma, 

 Muller, attempted to prove that the two forms are identical. He points out 

 that in the original figures of Pallas of Nereis cylindraria, variety belgica, "the 

 stiff golden comb shows one continuous and uniform series of teeth, not two 

 series, as in P. auricoma ; " and that figures by subsequent authors, e.g., 

 M'Intosh and Malmgren, show the two combs in Pectinaria belgica with 

 perfect distinctness. Moreover, certain references in Pallas's text imply that 

 his species had two distinct combs. Mr Harvey Gibson concludes—" Either 

 Pallas's draughtsman has made an error in most of the figures of P. belgica, 

 and failed to represent the comb with sufficient accuracy, hence leading 

 Muller into error when comparing his form with that of Pallas, or Pallas's 

 figures are correct (although his references in the text are wrong), and his 

 species is distinct from that of Muller (for the condition of the comb appears 



