styles. The proboscis is encircled at the base with two irregular series of dark prickles, and in front there is a solitary one, on each side, placed on a swollen part, with a group of three small prickles in the intervening concave space. The second segment has six clusters of these prickles around the mouth, but in the dorsal cluster there are two prickles only. The jaws have five very obtuse denticulations, with a plain curved apex. From great unwillingness to delete the nomenclature of our older authors, and because Leach appears to have had no precise idea of his N. margaritacea, and the name has been variously applied, I gladly venture to affix to this species a Linnæan name, more appropriate than Leach's, and which nothing in the Linnæan description contra-indicates. (a) Falmouth. (b) Falmouth. 5. N. fimbriata, jaws with ten denticles; post-occipital segment twice as long as the second, and the tentacular cirri longer than its diameter; lobes of the feet acute, divaricate, the dorsal short and small, with an elongated cirrus; setigerous lobes lanceolate; the terminal piece of the bristles smooth; inferior cirrus almost reaching the apex of the ventral lobe. Length 3". Die faserige Nereide, Müll. Wurm. 144. tab. 8, copied in Encyclop. Nereis fimbriata, Müll. Zool. Dan. Prod. 217. Turt. Gmel. iv. 86. Hab. The coralline region. No. XXVII.-Nereis fimbriata. Desc. This is our smallest Nereis. No specimen exceeding three inches in length has occurred to me in Berwick Bay. It is distinguished by its yellowish-white colour (when alive) with a strong pearly lustre, and by its prominent feet armed with black spines, which are quite visible in their sheaths. The head is streaked, more or less, with brown on the sides; and the anterior portion of the body is tinted with the same colour. The eyes are large and approximate. The jaws have ten obtuse denticulations, and the dark falcate point is plain. The tentacular cirri are well developed. The segments are all alike. The lobes of the feet are acute (No. XXVII.), and the dorsal is small and greatly overreached by its cirrus; the setigerous lobules larger, lanceolate or cordato-acute; the inferior cirrus attaining the apex of its lobe. The bristles present no peculiarity. The anal segment is small, rounded, with long styles. Obs. This is a common species. It seeks concealment and shelter in the tubes of other worms attached to old shells; and I often find small specimens under the coriaceous base of Lobularia digitata. A comparison of living individuals with Müller's figure left no doubt of their identity with his species. The globule in Müller's figure, which has been mistaken for a "gland," is an egg forced into the position it occupies by slight pressure or, naturally, from over-distension. In examining specimens in May, I found the body literally crammed with ova; and in some, one or more feet were quite distorted by the ova having obtained access within the lobes. (a) Berwick Bay, Dr. Johnston. (b) Bexhill, Brit. Mus. (c) From an oyster shell, London market, E. Doubleday. (d) Falmouth. 6. N. imbecillis, jaws slender, edentulous; tentacular cirri not longer than the diameter of the post-occipital segment, which is larger than the second; feet oblique, with conical obtuse lobes, the dorsal twice as large as the others, with its cirrus prolonged beyond the apex; terminal piece of the bristles smooth. Length 4". Nereis imbecillis, Grube, Actin. 76; Fam. Annel. 48. Hab. The littoral region? The Obs. Readily distinguished by the character of its oral organs, for the edentulous condition of the jaws is accompanied with a similar deficiency of armature in the proboscis. This is unfurnished with prickles, excepting some small light-coloured ones, which are seated in a cluster on the two dorsal mammillæ of the basal segment. eyes are large and approximate. The segments are nearly equal, narrow, smooth, convex dorsally, and flattened as usual on the ventral surface. The dorsal lobe of the foot is much larger and more protuberant than the others, but similar in shape. The upper setigerous branch is obsolete; the lower papillary. The ventral cirrus is remote in its insertion, and reaches half-way to the apex of the ventral lobe. The species appears to be similar in form to the N. cærulea, but the only specimen in the collection has its lower half in a state of decomposition, and the colour is discharged; it is now a uniform white, with a tinge of rose-red on the back. (a) Sandgate, Kent, Mus. Leach. 7. N. Dumerilii, post-occipital segment rather longer than the second; tentacular cirri three times longer than its breadth; dorsal cirrus projecting considerably beyond the apex of the lobe; lobes oblique, papillary, the upper setigerous, obsolete; jaws with about twelve denticles, extended to the point. Length.4". Nereis Dumerilii, Aud. & M.-Edw. Litt. de la France, ii. 196. Johnston in Ann. Nat. Hist. v. 174. Rathke in Nov. Act. Cur. Cæsar. Leop. xx. 163 (1843), tab. 8. f. 4, 5. Grube, Fam. Annel. 48. Hab. The coralline region. Apparently not unfrequent on the Irish coast. Strangford Lough, and elsewhere on the coast of Down, W. Thompson, Esq.; Belfast Bay, Dr. Drummond. Desc. Body vermiform, flattish or rarely subcylindrical, as thick as a goose-quill, only slightly tapered backwards, smooth, flat on the ventral surface, which has the median line faintly impressed. Head small, armed as usual (No. XXVIII.). Eyes very large. Jaws small, with brown apices, serrated along the edge to the tip or nearly so. No. XXVIII.-Nereis Dumerilii. Tentacular cirri three times as long as the diameter of the post-occipital segment, which is of about the same length as the next, and rather narrower. Segments about eighty, narrowish, thickened above the origins of the feet, which are well developed, and most crowded on the posterior half of the body. Feet of the anterior segments (No. XXIX. fig. 5) with three short obtuse branchial lobes, the dorsal one more prominent than the others, and the setigerous tubercle minute : of the middle and posterior feet (figs. 30 & 63) the branches are widely remote, with the branchial lobes of the superior branch nearly equal, divaricate, and a large brush of bristles between them. The inferior lobe rather small and simple. Superior cirrus twice as long as its lobe. Inferior cirrus rather short. Spines dark brown. Bristles numerous, pale yellow, smooth and slender. In spirits the worm is generally of a uniform cream or ochreyellow colour, with a brown line across the front of every segment, and there are two spots of the same or of a rich yellow colour at the base of the dorsal lobe of every foot. These spots appear to be constantly present, and consequently afford a good character of the species; but they are sometimes less perceptible than is desirable. (a) Berwick Bay, Dr. Johnston. (b) Barmouth, Merionethshire, C. Stokes. 8. N. pulsatoria, post-occipital segment about the same length as the second; tentacular cirri rather short; superior cirrus not reaching beyond the apex of the lobe; terminal piece of the bristles. minutely serrulate along one side. Nereis pulsatoria, Montagu. Aud. & M.-Edw. Litt. de la France, ii. 194. pl. 4. f. 8-13. Grube, Fam. Annel. 49. Lycoris pulsatoria, Savign. Syst. Annel. 33. Hab. Shores of the south of England. Obs. There is no specimen in the collection, nor have I seen one. It appears to be the only species that has the terminal piece of the acicular bristles serrulated. The jaws are represented to be multidentate to the very point. 12. NEREILEPAS. Nereilepa (-), Blainv. in Dict. des Sc. nat. lvii. 469. Nereis A, Aud. & M.-Edw. Litt. de la France, ii. 185. Char. Head and mouth similarly furnished with Nereis: segments alike or nearly so, the posterior with the feet most developed; the dorsal lobe of the foot with a hump or crest above the base, anterior to which the cirrus originates: ventral cirrus remote from its lobe at its insertion: bristles with acicular and falcate terminal pieces. 1. N. fucata, jaws multidenticulate, with a plain point; tentacular cirri not longer than the diameter of the head; post-occipital segment a little larger than the second; feet oblique, the dorsal lobe disproportionably larger than the others, more prominent, strongly humped, with its cirrus extending beyond the papillary point; inferior cirrus reaching to or beyond the apex of its lobe. Length 6"; breadth 4-5"". Millepeda marina belgica, Seba, Thesaur. i. pl. 81. f. 8. Lycoris fucata, Savign. Syst. Annel. 31. Nereis buccinicola, Leach, MSS. Brit. Mus. Nereis bilineata, Johnston in Ann. Nat. Hist. iii. 295. pl. 6. f. 4. Hab. The Laminarian region. It is generally found in old univalve shells (viz. Fusus antiquus, Buccinum undatum, and Fusus corneus); and it occupies the shell in common with the Hermitlobster. Desc. Body from 3 to 4 inches long, ths or th broad, semicylindrical, tapered towards the tail, of a tile-red colour, marked along the back with two snow-white lines, the narrow space between them being of a fine dark red colour, glossed with a pearly purple lustre, more especially on the ventral surface. Head small, the front as usual pointed with two conical antennæ longer than its own diameter, and furnished at each side with a large biarticulate palpus. Eyes four, black, and very distinct. Mouth inferior. The proboscis roughened with black prickles. Jaws falcate, rather small and slender, corneous, crenulate on the inner edge; the crenulations four or five, and not deep; the brown curved extremity plain. Tentacular cirri four on each side, setaceous, of unequal lengths. Segments 118, very narrow, the first broader than the following, but not equal in breadth to two united, convex dorsally, smooth. Feet uniform, the superior cirrus elongate, surpassing the dorsal branchial? papilla, which is more prominent and much larger than the others (No. XXX.). Bristles of the upper tubercle few, those of the lower bifasciculate, two-jointed, the apical joint smooth, often broken away from the lowermost bristles. Spines brown, acute; ventral surface flat. Tail with two short styles. When macerated in spirits, the lines and red colour are completely removed, and the body becomes of a uniform pearl-grey. I have occasionally found this beautiful species concealed in old univalve shells, brought up, with other rubbish, on the lines of our fishermen; one individual was taken from a shell of Fusus corneus, which appeared at first to be fully occupied with a Hermit-lobster. Obs. The body is plano-convex, narrowed gradually to the tail, and also at the head, the feet forming a fringe on each side fully a |