LEPIDASTHENTA. 423 
Habitat.—Dredged by the 8. F. B. ship ‘“‘ Goldseeker ” in the North Sea at 61° 39’ N., 
4° 45’ W. at a depth of 620 m. 
Abroad Lovén dredged it off the island of Koster in Swedish waters ; between Spitz- 
bergen and Nova Zembla (Marenzeller) ; Christiansund (Hansen, Trautzsch, Ditlevsen). 
The head is produced anteriorly into two conico-rotund processes. The eyes are large, 
the larger anterior pair “well back on the head and close to its lateral edge” (Small), the 
posterior pair “laterally in front of the nuchal border.” (idem). The ciliated lateral tentacles 
are about the leneth of the head, and the median tentacle, which was first alluded to by 
Théel, is about twice the length of the head, its tip bemg remarkably slender, and covered 
with minute cilia. The subulate palpi have minute papillee. 
The body is elongate-oblong, flattened, and has thirty-six to forty segments. The scales 
are obliquely ovate or sub-orbicular, with a dense series of cilia on the exposed margin and 
on the surface. The tubercle mentioned by Malmeren as taking the place of the dorsal cirri 
in those segments devoid of scales could not be seen by W. Small. The ventral cirrus 
has sparse clavate cilia. _ 
The feet are characterised by the conspicuous condition of the dorsal bristles, which 
W. Small found more prominent than indicated in Malmeren’s figure, the bristles themselves 
more curved, and the spines on them became larger toward the tip (Plate CX XXIV, fig. 2). 
“ The transverse rows of spines almost pass completely across the bristle, recalling the condi- 
tion in Hvarne impar. The inferior bristles are more curved, more slender, and have longer 
spines than the superior” (Small). A similar modification of the terminal region of the 
superior bristles is seen in Huwpolynoé occidentalis, MclI., and in EH. anticostrensis, Mcl., from 
the St. Lawrence, Canada. 
The ventral series is distinguished by the bifid condition of the longer and more slender 
upper bristles, arising from a modification of the secondary process and tip generaily (Plate 
CXXXIV, fig. 2a). “The lateral spines are large and slightly recurved, and are almost 
equalled in length by the transverse rows of spines. The spies decrease in number and 
size toward the tip, and the bifid portion of the bristle is entirely naked, with a slight swelling 
immediately below the bifurcation ” (Small). The inferior bristles (Plate CX XXIV, fig. 20) 
conform to the type seen in Hunoa, the tip being entire, and, as pointed out by W. Small, 
the spines are confined to the lower half of the tip, the distal region being smooth. | 
This species was discriminated by Mr. Wm. Small, B.Sc., from an imperfect example 
procured by the S. F. B. ship “ Goldseeker ” in the North Sea, and has not been found in the 
inshore waters of Britain.) » 
Genus LEPIDASTHENIA, Malmgren, 1867. 
The genus was established by Malmgren for a species found by Grube and Heller in 
the Adriatic, and therefore a strictly Southern form. It is characterised by the small head 
bearing four eyes and covered by the first pair of scales, a median and two lateral tentacles, 
all smooth. Palpi smooth and of moderate length. Tentacular cirri, long, filiform and 
smooth. Body of considerable length, sublinear, flattened; scales comparatively small, 
! By the courtesy of Prof. D’Arcy Thompson, this collection of Polychets was forwarded for 
investigation by W. Small and Jas. Watson Pryde. 
