20 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT. 
Family SYLLID/E. 
Sub-family Syllide^e. 
Genus Syllis Savigny. 
Syllis cluster obranchia Schmarda. 
Schmarda (1861), p. 72. 
Elders (1904), p. 19, pi. Ill, figs. 1-4. 
Elders (1908), p. 45. 
Benham (1909), p. 237. 
Elders (1913), p. 476, pi. XXXI, figs. 1-3 (epitokons phases). 
Augener (1913), p. 200, fig. 23. (I have not seen this.) 
Fauvel (1919), p. 354. 
(Plate 5, figs. 1-2.) 
It is interesting to find this species, originally regarded as a Sub-antarctic form, 
occurring off Adelie Land, though it has already been recorded from Kaiser Wilhelm 
II Land. 
Amongst the material I find epitokous phases as well as the atokous. The 
species seems somewhat variable, judging from the accounts of Ehlers and Fauvel, and 
my own observations, especially in regard to the shape and length of, and the number 
of annuli in, the dorsal cirri. I will here refer oidy to such differences as I have noted, 
for on the whole the specimens agree with the previous accounts. 
The larger individuals in the present collection, which numbers about a score, 
measure from 20-25 mm. in length, with a width of 1 mm.; they contain from 60-100 
segments. The breadth of the body is fairly uniform throughout, except for a slight 
tapering at each end. There are no markings on the dorsal surface. 
The prostoinium is not quite in agreement with Elders’ s figure, for in the 
specimens before me it is transversely oval, with the anterior margin produced in the 
middle line to form a rounded lobe, which is about half the width of the base of the 
prostoinium. Ehlers shows the margin to be a continuous curve. The difference is 
perhaps due to the state of preservation. 
The number of annuli in the cirri has been shown to vary, and Ehlers (1913) has 
found that in the youngest stages they are not moniliform ; and that the annulation 
increases with age ; but I suggest that the differences observed in various adults may be 
in part due to injury to the tips of the appendages. 
