HERMiEA DENDEITICA. 



characters were not sufficiently made out. On our visiting Torquay, however, in May 1845, 

 Mrs. Wyatt procured for us a supply of the Codium from the same spot, and on a careful 

 examination of the sea-weed, we were so fortunate as to find two fine living examples of the 

 supposed Calliopcea, which we then ascertained, from the peculiar form of the tentacles, to 

 belong to the genus Hermcea of Loven. 



This species is very lively in its motions, and, like most of the vegetable feeders of the 

 tribe, it is gregarious, as the large number collected by Mrs. Wyatt sufficiently shows. Its 

 breeding season appears to be in May and June. The spawn is contained in a thick, transparent, 

 gelatinous belt, slightly depressed, and nearly twice coiled, attached to sea-weed, frequently 

 in clustered masses. The eggs are numerous, with a slight tendency to a transverse linear 

 arrangement. 



One of the two individuals last obtained, both of which lived with us for some time, 

 spawned on the 13th of May, and on the 22d the ova were entirely hatched. The larva 

 does not differ materially from that of the other Eolididcs. It is, however, more transparent 

 than usual, and occupies nearly the whole of the shell, which is furnished with an operculum. 

 The cilia of the general surface are large and conspicuous. 



This beautiful species varies considerably in intensity of colour, some having the papillae 

 and dendritic markings of a very dark green, while in others they are comparatively pale, and 

 occasionally of an olive green, with the bands of the papillae of a yellowish olive. In some 

 the markings are not so fully developed as in others. 



Figs. 1, 2, 3. Hermcea dendritica in different positions. 



4. Two of the papillae, more highly magnified. 



5. Spawn. 



6. A portion of the same, showing the ova. 



7. Larva, 



