POLYCH^ETA sedentaria of the firth of forth. 679 



setae : a single row of uncini numerous in all the setigerous somites, but in the 

 three anterior fewer than in those following; vertex of the rostrum 4-dentate, 

 with sometimes a 5th tooth, very small, disappearing or obsolete ; a fascicle of 

 hairs arising beneath the rostrum and bent over it. Last somite infundibuliform, 

 with the margin ciliated. Anus terminal in the bottom of the funnel. 



Axiothea catenata, Malmgren. 

 Got in great numbers inhabiting fine tubes buried in the sand, with only 

 their upper ends protruding. The tubes often have a branch in the lower part 

 of their course, and extend down to a depth of 6 or 8 inches.' The upper 

 end is quite plain and open. The worms lie in their tubes with either their 

 head or their tail uppermost indifferently, so that they can evidently turn in 

 them. The locality whence our specimens were got was the flat sands for 

 two or three hundred yards to the west of the Birnie Rocks, where the upper 

 ends of the tubes form a sort of miniature forest all over the surface. Length 

 3 or 4 inches when fully extended, but when contracted, it is much less. 

 Colour pinkish, paler towards the anterior end, with broad bands of deep red 

 surrounding the body at intervals (PI. XLVII. fig. 42). 



Fam. Capitellid^e (Halelminthid^e, Mgn.). 

 Genus Capitella, Blainville. 



Capitella Fabricii, Blan., Diet, des Sci. Nat, tome lvii., 1828. 



Body very extensile, somites long and numerous : no branchiae, parapod ia 

 rudimentary, represented by slight dorsal and ventral tubercles on the middle 

 and posterior region of the body. Setae of two kinds, subulate and uncinate, also 

 genital setae : subulate setae confined to the anterior 6 or 8 somites, uncini to 

 the rest. Male genital opening single, dorsal, between 8th and 9th somites ; 

 female, between 7th and 8th. Ocelli, 2 or more small lateral on praeoral lobe. 

 Two pits immediately behind eyes from which two ciliated knobbed processes 

 can be protruded. Head conical and pointed. 



Capitella capitata, Van Beneden, (Fabricius). 



Lumbricus capitalus, Fabricius, Fn. Gronl., p. 279. 

 Valla ciliata, Johnston, Cat. Brit. Mus. 



Capitella capitala, Van Beneden, Bullet Acad. Roy. Belgique, 2 ser., iii., 

 1857 ; Malmgren, Annulata Polychaet. ; M'Intosh, Fauna of St Andrews. 



Habits, <&c. — Very common under stones in the littoral zone. The two 

 ciliated retractile processes not seen unless the animal is watched with a low 

 power for some time in the living condition. 



