Fam. 3, Plate 12. 



EOLIS CORONATA, Forbes. 





*lE. gracilis, albida : branchiis oblongis, sub-linearibus, rubris, coeruleo-tinctis, apicibus albis, in 

 fascic&is 6-7, digestis : tentaculis dorsalibus valde annularis, annulis 7-8 ; angulis anterioribus pedis 

 produces. 



Eolida coronaia, Forbes in Athenaeum for 1839, No. 618, p. 647. 



Hab. Under loose stones and rocks between high and low water mark. Shetland, Professor E. 

 Forbes. Whitley, Cullercoats, and Newbiggin, Northumberland. Marsden, Durham. Rothesay Bay, 

 Isle of Bute. Dublin Bay and Malahide, Ireland. 



Body about an inch long, slender, nearly linear and tapering to a fine point, of a trans- 

 parent watery white, tinged with rose-colour and buff, the latter from the viscera shining 

 through. Immediately behind the dorsal tentacles there is a large : longitudinal stain of rose- 

 colour, caused by the oesophagus, and in front of them is a lozenge-shaped spot, of opake 

 white or blue, from which a streak of the same passes to the anterior margin* of the head, 

 and another streak passes backwards between the tentacles, and terminates a .short way 

 behind them. There is likewise a white streak on the ridge of the tail, and the .upper surface 

 of the body is sprinkled over with irregular faint spots, of opake white/ $m$$ unfrequently 

 tinged with blue. Dorsal tentacles fawn-coloured, with a pale sulphur-yellow streak in 

 front, subclavate, having seven or eight wide membranous rings, and incomplete intermediate 

 ones, which gives them a peculiarly elegant appearance; points truncated.. „They spread 

 gradually apart above and approximate at the base, and are not much, inclined forwai&s. 

 The portion of the body bearing these tentacles is rather elevated. Oral tentacle .much 

 longer than the dorsal ones, tapering, white, tinged with pink or blue,, and generally helcQn 

 a gracefully curved position : they gradually enlarge at the base, so as to form a continuous 

 outline with the head. Their tips have an opake white streak. Branchia elliptic-oblong, 

 nearly linear, cylindrical, set in six or seven clusters down each side of the backv -Ifheifc 

 central vessel is of a deep crimson, varying occasionally to brick red, orange, or more,ra#$ly 

 pale rose-red or flesh colour, with the extremities darker ; the sheaths always reflecting more 

 or less of a bright ultramarine blue, which generally forms an oblong blotch or streak in front. 

 The apices have an imperfect opake white ring, expanded in front and prolonged into a streak 

 which passes a little way down the papillae. From above, the apex appears to be perforated ; 

 an appearance caused by the white ring being confined to the surface, and the central part 

 transparent. The first cluster of branchiae, which forms with the opposite one a kind of ruff 

 round the neck, consists, in fine full-grown specimens, of twenty or thirty papillae, set in 

 transverse rows of five or six each, rather long on the back and diminishing towards the 

 sides. The second cluster, divided from the first by a short space, is less numerous, and the 

 rest become gradually less in number and size, sometimes nearly coalescing. Foot slender, 

 extending beyond the branchiae behind and tapering to a fine point, the anterior margin is 

 slit transversely, and the upper laminae notched in the centre ; the lateral angles produced 

 at the sides and curved backwards. 



This fine species — one of the most beautiful of its tribe— occasionally reaches an inch 



