REMAHKABLT BRANCHED STLLIS. 



721 



that they must either be very few, only occasionally developed, or 

 by some means have been swept off, as it is hard to believe that 

 they are entirely absent. The latter, however, must be the con- 

 dition in some of the examples (unless we arc to suppose that all 

 are connected with a single head), which, therefore, would appear 

 to derive nourishment at the open end ; yet, in many, the aper- 

 ture rapidly develops a bud, which nearly closes it. If, in life, 

 there are many examples with such open ends, then the whole 

 series branching from them presents an analogous condition to 

 that of very elementary animals, the food being swept in with the 

 sea-water to traverse the moniliform nutritive canal throughout 

 the organism. 



The body of the animal stretches, from any of the broken ends, 

 of a nearly uniform diameter for a considerable distance, tlie 

 numerous narrow segments being distinctly marked, and each 

 furnished laterally with well-formed feet. The latter have dor- 

 sally a long, and often gracefLilly curved, cirrus, composed of a 

 variable number of segments, since injury and reparation constantly 

 occur. The longer cirri have about twenty-six segments, and all 

 the organs are gently tapered from base to apex. Beneath, and 

 confluent with, the base of the cirrus is the somewhat conical 

 setigerous region, which has a few simple bristles, with a stout 

 and slightly curved shaft, the dilated distal portion having the 

 simple terminal process apparently ankylosed to it. This modi- 

 fication of the bristle is peculiar. A single stout spine supports 

 the setigerous region, and, as usual, its point passes to the upper 

 border. The ventral cirrus is broad and short, its tip being 

 within the line of the former division. 



The body of the annelid appears to have a furor for budding — 

 laterally, terminally, and wherever a broken surface occurs. The 

 young buds remain slender till they have reached a considerable 

 length, and into each a diverticulum of tlie alimentary canal of 

 the parent enters. These buds, on attaining a certain size, by- 

 and-by give off other buds, so that the whole has a remarkably 

 branched condition. The tail of the bud (i. e. its distal point) is 

 early formed, and soon becomes furnislied with two long cirri. 

 Indeed it would seem that in such a case the tail and the anus 

 were more useful than the head, the eyes, and the finished buccal 

 and pharyngeal apparatus. 



The number of buds seems to be indefinite, the data at present 

 being insufiicient to enable me to fix a limit. Some of the larger 



LINN. JOUEX. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XIV. 54i 



