380 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
long. 72° 10' W.; at a depth of 1240 fathoms; bottom temperature, 37°‘2 ; sea-hottom, 
blue mud. The tubes, which probably represent those of a Spiochcetopterus, are 
empty. 
Family SpiONimL. 
The Spionidse as a rule are more abundant in the littoral region than in deep water, 
and thus their paucity in the present collection may be explained. In the “ Porcupine ” 
expedition, however, the common Nerine foliosa, Sars, reached a depth of 725 fathoms, 
and Scolecolepis cirrata, Sars, 584 fathoms ; yet the former is one of the most abundant 
between tide-marks, while the latter chiefly comes from water of some depth off the 
British shores. 
Kinberg mentions two from shallow water, and Schmarda four, two from the laminarian 
region and two from the Atlantic. Grube does not describe any in the collection 
made by the “ Gazelle,” and only one {Polydora) in Semper’s Philippine series. 
They range from the extreme north to the extreme south, one of the most widely 
distributed being Polydora, a genus which bores in rocks of various kinds, or forms 
tunnels in Melobesia as at St. Paul’s Rocks. 
Scolecolepis, Blainvillc. 
Scolecolepis errata, Sars, var. 
Habitat . — Dredged at Station 149g (off London River, Kerguelen), January 29, 
1874 ; lat. 48° 50' S., long. 69° 18' E.; depth, 110 fathoms; surface temperature, 40°'2 ; 
sea-bottom, volcanic mud. 
The specimen is of comparatively large size, agreeing in this respect with the same 
variety dredged in the Gulf of St. Lawrence by Mr. Whiteaves. The example is 
fragmentary, the head injured, and apparently in process of reproduction, so that an 
accurate investigation cannot at present be made. Anteriorly the diameter of the body 
is about 4 mm. The eyes are less than in Scolecolepis cirrata. No tentacle is present. 
In general appearance and in the structure of the bristles and hooks it agrees with 
Scolecolepis cirrata, though the colour of the bristles is golden yellow, and the hooks 
show a shorter main fang than in the common species. 
The structure of the body-wall conforms to that observed in British examples of the 
species, though the greater size renders certain characters more distinct. Thus the 
cuticle is comparatively thin while the hypoderm is largely developed, the deepest region 
occurring in the ventral median line at the nerve-area. The latter shows two large 
neural canals, separated only by a narrow median band of fibres, passing from the base- 
