vermiform; segments limited, with plain sutures not indented on the sides, and divided into less defined rings; the vent generally encircled with papillæ : head undefined, continuous with the body, generally conical, with one or two papillæ in front which serve for antennæ eyes none? : mouth ventral, transverse, with a very short globose or cup-like emandibulate proboscis: branches of the feet inconspicuous, the bristles in one or two series, simple and setaceous: branchia cirriform, rarely compound, placed along the sides in a single series towards the ventral aspect, usually absent on the anterior or posterior segments, and sometimes found only on the anterior

ones.

30. OPHELIA.

Ophelia, Savign. Syst. Annel. 38. Aud. & M.-Edwards, Litt. de la France, ii. 264. Blainville in Dict. cit. lvii. 479. Fleming in Encyclop. Brit. edit. 7. xi. 221. M.-Edwards in Lam. Anim. s. Vert. 2de édit. v. 537. Grube, Fam. Annel. 70.

Ophelina, Oersted, Annul. Dan. Consp. 45. Griffith's Cuv. xiii. 24. Char. Head undefined, pointed, with a depression on each side: bristles in one or two series, simple and setaceous: branchiæ cirriform, viz. a series of fleshy, simple, setaceous filaments: ventral surface flat, used as a foot, distinctly defined, muscular, equal in length to the body.

Obs. Savigny described the anterior for the anal extremity, and the ventral for the dorsal surface. The same error was committed by Audouin and Milne-Edwards. Sars was enabled to rectify the mistake by his observations on living individuals.

There is a slight resemblance in general form and appearance between Ophelia and the genus Amphioxus amongst fishes.

1. O. acuminata, body fusiform; snout tipped with a small globule; branchial cirri to all the segments; anal extremity spoon-shaped, with two small fusiform appendages in front of the vent. Length 2". Ophelina acuminata, Oersted, Annul. Dan. Consp. 46.

Ammotrypane aulogaster, Rathke in Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. xx. 188 (1843), tab. 10. f. 1-3.

Ophelia aulogaster et Oph. acuminata, Grube, Fam. Annel. 70.

Hab. The laminarian and coralline regions.

Desc. Worm about 2 inches in length, rigid and fusiform, or tapering towards each end, the back rounded, smooth and even, with narrow segments divided by faintly marked lines, and of a uniform pearly colour; the ventral disk flattened, furrowed down the middle, of a cream-yellow colour, and separated from the dorsum by a rounded thickened line which runs along the sides, and along the upper rim

of which the feet are arranged in a single series. Head none. Anterior extremity pointed, with a small obtuse mucro. Mouth inferior, No. XXXIX.-Ophelia acuminata.

2

1

1. Worm natural size.

2. Magnified.

Each

about a line behind the snout, without a proboscis or jaws. Anal extremity curved, somewhat spoon-shaped, cartilaginous, and marked with transverse lines, and fringed beneath, on the margin, with a series of minute tentacular cirri. Feet about forty on each side, rather distant, and equally distanced, laid obliquely backwards, and appearing to be articulated to the body by a very slightly bulbous base. foot (No. XL. fig. 4) consists of a small papilla, whence issue two bundles of very unequal bristles, a greatly elongated superior cirrus, and a very short inferior cirrus in the form of a lobule. The superior cirrus No. XL.-Ophelia acuminata.

3

3. Side of body and feet magnified.

4. Foot and bristle more magnified.

is tentacular, gently curved and tapered*. The bristles are all simple, very slender, slightly curved, very acute and smooth. The longest are much shorter than the superior cirrus. They form the inferior bundle; and the bristles of the superior bundle are comparatively short. There are no spines in either bundle.

The simplicity of this worm is an obstacle in the way of its * What we have described as the superior cirrus, Oersted would consider to be the branchiæ.

description. It is difficult to decide which is the anterior, and which the anal extremity. I have been guided in my determination by the direction of the cirri, which I presume point backwards, and by the fact that I found the intestine near what I have called the tail, filled with a fine quartzose sand, while it was empty at the opposite end. By its form and rigidity it reminds one of the Amphioxus; and the distinct manner in which the dorsal is separated from the ventral disk, with the structure of the latter, calls up a comparison with a narrow Limax.

There is in some specimens a black speck on each side behind the snout, but it is uncertain whether these are eyes.

Rathke's figure exactly represents our specimens; and his description is probably superior to ours, from having been derived from living specimens. Unfortunately we have not been able to benefit from it. (a) Cullercoats, Northumberland, Jos. Alder.

(b) Cullercoats, Jos. Alder: and Firth of Forth, Lieut. Thomas, R.N.

31. AMMOTRYPANE.

Ammotrypane, Rathke in Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. 1843, xx. 188.
Grube, Fam. Annel. 70.

Char. Head continuous with the body, produced to a point: segments more or less ringed, the dorsal surface rounded, the ventral flat, but the limaciform sole abbreviated in front: branchiæ cirriform, in a single series on each side, connected with the feet of the posterior portion only feet slightly protuberant, with two fanshaped tufts of bristles: anus with a circle of small papillæ.

1. A. limacina.

Ammotrypane limacina, Rathke in lib. cit. 190. tab. 10. f. 4-8. Grube,
Fam. Annel. 70.

Ophelia eruciformis, Johnston, MSS.

Hab. Near low-water.

Desc. Worm 14-2", thick proportionably, grub-like, smooth, very convex dorsally, with a thickened indented line along each side on which the feet are placed; the ventral surface flat, formed like the muscular foot of a gasteropod. The whole body is encircled with narrow slightly raised lines, which are most conspicuous on the anterior third, and less perceptible on the middle and posterior portions. The anterior portion consists of seven segments composed of three or four rings, and is distinguished by being conoidal, with less developed abranchial feet, and no ventral furrow. It is fully onefourth the length of the entire body, becomes snout-like in front, and is terminated with a mucro. There is a short furrow on each side. Mouth large, inferior, transverse, with a thick lip; and a groove on each side bounds the soles of the whole anterior portion.

Anal extremity suddenly depressed and narrower; the vent terminal, encircled with a few short papillæ, and overshadowed with the tufts of bristles from each side. On the anterior portion there are six or No. XLI.—Ammotrypane limacina.

seven pairs of slightly developed feet, consisting of two minute lobules in a transverse line, between the clefts of which the small bundle of bristles is protruded. The other feet are alike, but are most developed posteriorly. There are about twenty-eight pairs (exclusive of the anterior), and each foot is furnished with two fan-shaped unequal bundles of bristles protruded from clefts between small rounded membranous lobules. The upper cleft has two lobules on each side, the under cleft one only; and above the upper cleft is the thick cirriform branchia, shorter than the bristles in specimens preserved in spirits. The superior fascicle of bristles is the longest and largest, and the bristles are all smooth, weak and setaceous.

Mr. Dyster thus describes it :-" Length 24 inches; breadthths. Anterior third cylindrical. Head conical; the remaining two-thirds somewhat compressed. Ventral surface divided deeply into two semicircular ridges, from the outer edge of which project the feet, carrying a bundle of longish setæ below, and prolonged above into filamentous branchia. The anterior one-third has about eight pairs of feet, resembling those of the Rissulaceae (I speak only of appearance under a hand-glass; is not dissected yet). The four (?) caudal segments without appendages. Terminating in a circle (cluster?) of short stout conical papillæ. Segments very imperfectly marked; anteriorly not at all, but body transversely ringed. Very sluggish: gorgeously prismatic."

The worm is of a uniform pearl-colour. The motion is said to be very sluggish.

(a) Scotland, Lieut. Thomas, R.N.

32. TRAVISIA *.

Travisia, Johnston in Ann. Nat. Hist. iv. 373 (1840). Grube, Fam.
Annel. 71.

Char. Body soft, vermiform, nearly alike on both dorsal and ventral surfaces, divided into an anterior and posterior portion: first segment produced into a small snout, and, as well as the second, apodous mouth ventral, transverse: the following segments threeringed, with two rows of fasciculated bristles along each side, and a simple cirriform branchial filament: posterior portion narrow, cylindrical, with two papilla on each side of the segments, and a short cirriform filament between, with a single fascicle of bristles: penultimate segment apodous; the anal with a circle of small papillæ.

In 1840 I characterized this genus from specimens which were found in a collection of Scottish worms presented to me by Professors Goodsir and Edward Forbes. The specimens were not well preserved by the spirits, and most of them were entirely decomposed. I am now, therefore, inclined to believe that some of the external appendages may have fallen away; and that thus errors may have been committed in assigning the characters to the genus. These doubts as to my own accuracy have been raised by an examination of Sars's figures of his Oligobranchus roseus. That the worms are nearly related is very evident; but that they are synonymous cannot be concluded.

Sars's definition of his genus Oligobranchus is as follows:-" Corpus teres arenicoliforme cauda attenuata, segmentorum quodque ex annulis quatuor compositum. Caput distinctum, antice truncatum, tentaculis duobus brevibus; os subtus proboscide brevissima inerme; anus terminalis cirris quatuor. Pinnæ in segmento quoque utrinque duæ discretæ ex mammillis cum fasciculis setarum capillarium constantes, in segmentis anticis 14-15 absque appendicibus, in reliquis vero et cirro superiori et inferiori conico seu fusiformi ornatæ. Branchiarum arbusculæ formium ramosissimarum paria quatuor in segmentis anticis corporis supra et pone pinnas in dorso."-Fauna Litt. Norvegia, i. 91. See also Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xx. 348.

* Travisia, in commemoration of Mr. Travis, an eminent surgeon in Scarborough, and one of those "learned and ingenious friends" to whose correspondence Mr. Pennant was much indebted in preparing his 'British Zoology.' Is it Ophelia of Savigny? See Oersted's Grænl. Annul. Dorsibr. 51. Kroyer's Naturh. Tids. 1842, 125.