GEPHYREA INERMIA. 
By W. B. Benham, M.A. (Oxon.), D.Sc. (Lond,), F.R.S., F.N.Z.lnst., Professor of 
Biology, University of Otago, New Zealand. 
With Plate 11. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The collection of Unarmed Gephyrea contains five species, viz. :— Priapulus caudatus, 
var. tuberculato-spinosus Baird; Phascolosoma margaritaceum, var. caps iforme Baird; 
Phascolosoma eremita, var. australe nov.; Phascolosoma mawsoni sp. nov.; and 
Physcosoma scolops Selenka and Man. 
The last species came not from the Antarctic Sea, but from the neighbourhood 
of Tasmania—a new record for it, although it is common in the sea round New Zealand, 
which is its most southerly habitat. As I have mentioned in my Report on the 
Polychaeta, there are some other resemblances between the faunae of these two areas. 
The two first species on the list are well-known Antarctic and Subantarctic 
forms, and have been recorded by most of the recent expeditions to these southern 
seas. I have discussed below the question as to whether Michaclsen’s three species of 
Phascolosoma, from South Georgia, are or are not to be included in the variety capsiforme, 
and the conclusion I have come to is in the negative. 
The discovery of a variety of the arctic species P. eremita adds another instance 
to the list of “ bipolar ” species, which serves to strengthen, if need be, Theel’s views 
as to bipolarity discussed in his memoir on the Gephyrea of the Swedish Antarctic 
expedition. 
I have been so presumptuous as to analyse the characters usually regarded as 
diagnostic of species of Phascolosoma , but I recognise that a much wider field for 
comparison is needed before one can come to a final conclusion on the subject. The 
characters that are available are few in number, and many of them are, I believe, 
liable to a considerable degree of variation, as a consequence of the contractility of the 
animals. At the same time the structure of the skin, on which reliance has been placed 
in recent years, is not always available on account of imperfect preservation of the 
material and the lack in many cases of careful drawings of the papillse. 
