SPHARODORUM MINUTUM. 471 
Habitat.—Blacksod Bay, amongst sea-weeds on shore, and Ballynakill Harbour, im the 
surface tow-nets (Southern). 
Distribution.—Dieppe. 
This appears to be a form so closely allied to S. minutum that hesitation is felt in sepa- 
rating them. It may be a young form developing reproductive elements. The bristles 
of this and S. meunutum differ very little, and the only other feature which was noticed was 
the somewhat more regular arrangement and size of the papille in S. minutwm. 
SPHARODORUM MINUTUM, Webster & Benedict. Plate CXXXVI, figs. 5 and 5a—bristles. 
Specific Characters—Head narrow anteriorly, covered with papille; two dorsal and 
two ventral tentacles in front, their basal portions papillose, whilst behind them is a short, 
thick median tentacle. Buccal segment has a pair of cylindrical tentacular cirri—either 
with or without papilla, and dorsal to them a pair of dark reddish-brown eyes with lenses. 
Body 2—3 mm. long, and of seventeen to twenty-two setigerous segments, rounded dorsally 
and flattened ventrally. Hach segment has a row of ten to twelve large globular papille 
dorsally in a line with the feet, and smaller papillee are scattered over the body, but no large 
papillz occur on the ventral surface. Anal segment with two large globular papillee laterally, 
and a long, cylindrical median one. The barrel-shaped stomach occupies two and a half to 
three segments, is dark in colour and furrowed along one side, as well as transversely striated ; 
anterior margin smooth, with a thickened rim. oot consists of a rounded setigerous process 
with a pointed spme, a large cylindrical ventral cirrus, and a smaller but similar papilla 
on the anterior face of the setigerous lobe. Bristles shehtly curved, the end of the shaft 
enlarged and serrated on one edge, terminal piece curved at the tip. Mature specimens 
occurred from June to August, and usually were captured in the surface tow-net at night. 
The eggs are reddish purple (Southern). 
SYNONYMS. 
1887. Hphesia minuta, Webster and Benedict. U.S. Com. F. and F., vol. xin, p. 728. 
1913. Spherodorum minutum, Fauvel. Bull. Inst. Oceanogr., No. 270, p. 37. 
1914. is i‘ Southern. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xxxi, No. 47, p. 90, pl. ix, 
figs. 21 A—H. 
hs s %p Fauvel. Annél. Polych. Monaco, p. 96, pl. vu, figs. 19—21. 
1915. 5 tA Allen. Journ. M. B. A., vol. x, p. 626. 
1922. ss - McIntosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. ix, p. 1d. 
Habitat—Blacksod Bay, in Laminarian roots; Clew Bay, in 24 fathoms, on sand and 
shells; dredged in Ballinakill Harbour in 2—8 fathoms, and taken in tow-net at night 
(Southern). Trawled in the Cattewater and found amongst Laminarian roots in Rum Bay, 
Plymouth (Allen). 
North Atlantic, Hastport, Mame (Webster and Benedict); Spitzbergen (Fauvel). 
The description of this form is after Southern, since the material at hand did not suffice 
to afford a satisfactory conclusion. 
