Fam. 1, Plate 25. 

 ANCULA CRISTATA, Alder, Sp* 



A. alba, pellucida, processibus flavo-terminatis : tentaculis clavatis, utrinque filamentibus 2 

 basalibus : branchhs 3, plumosis ; appendicibus linearibus, 5 -utrinque, cinctis. 



Polycera cristata, Alder in Ann. Nat. Hist. v. 6, p. 340, t. 9, f. 10, 11, 12. 



Ancula cristata, Loven, Ind. Moll. Scand. p. 5. 



Hab. Under stones between tide-marks. Cullercoats, Whitley, and Newbiggin ; not uncommon. 

 Holy Island, Br. Johnston. Marsden, Durham, A. H. Dublin Bay and Malahide. Torbay; rare, 

 J. A. Woodside, Cheshire ; plentiful, /. Price, Esq. 



Body about half an inch, long, of a transparent watery white, smooth. Dorsal tentacles 

 rather large, clavate, with eight or ten broad yellow laminae on the upper half, above which the 

 shaft is produced and truncated : at the base of each there are two linear appendages about 

 half the length of the tentacle, and branching off from it nearly at right angles ; they are white, 

 with the ends bright orange or golden yellow. The portion of the body on which the tentacles 

 are placed slopes gradually down to the subvelar lip, which is semicircular, and produced at 

 the sides into two flattish tentacular processes, rather short but capable of extension, rounded 

 at the ends, and usually tipped with orange. Branchial plumes three, placed on an elevated 

 part near the centre of the back, and of a delicate transparent white, tipped with yellow, and 

 having a double row of opake white spots within the stem and principal branches. The 

 plumes are nearly of equal length, and gracefully curved inwards. Immediately surrounding 

 the branchiae are ten linear and rather stout appendages, a little dilated at the base ; they 

 are set, five on each side, on a slightly elevated inconspicuous ridge, and have the .upper 

 portion of a bright yellow or orange. The hinder part of the body tapers gradually to a fine 

 point ; it is slightly keeled, and sometimes marked with a central orange line. The liver 

 appears, through the transparent skin, of a brownish-yellow colour, and the ovaries which 

 surround it and ramify over its surface are often very apparent. Foot linear, narrow, and 

 rounded at the sides in front. 



The usual colour of the processes in this elegant and graceful little creature is a golden 

 yellow, but it varies in different individuals from a deep orange, through all the shades of 

 yellow, to an opake white. The number of branchial appendages is also apt to vary, but 

 seldom exceeds ten, though an individual found by our friend Dr. Johnson, at Holy Island, 

 which we have no hesitation in referring to this species, had as many as fourteen. We 

 consider ten to be the normal number, the usual variation being a deficiency from imperfect 



* Called Miranda cristata on the Plate. 



