EOLIS GLAUCA, Alder and H ancock.
E. sub-depressa, elongata, rufescens: branchiis'vermicularibus sub-conicis, sub-compressis, glaucis,
fusco et albo punctatis; in seriebus 14 densè digestis: tentaculis sub-linearibus, Isevibusangulis
anterioribus pedis paululum expansis.
Eolis glauca, Aid. and Hane., in Ann. Nat. Hist. y. 16, p. 314.
Hab. Dredged off Berry Head, in Torbay.
Body upwards of an inch and three quarters long, rather depressed and elongated,
tapering to. a fine point behind ; pale red, more intense towards the head. Dorsal tentacles
approximating at the base, and spreading above, moderately long, rather slender and tapering,
smooth, of a full red, the tips whitish and obtuse. The eyes are small, and placed close behind
them. Oral tentacles set rather wide apart, and about the same length as the dorsal, pair,
their bases forming the sides of the head ; whitè with a reddish tinge on the upper part
especially towards the base, and minutely speckled with opake red. Branchioe very
■numerous, rather stout, slightly depressed, vermicular,- and tapering a good deal towards the
top ; of a pale sage-green colour, speckled with brown and opake hoary white; and
frequently with a reddish tinge near the apex ; the extreme tips pale. They extend forwards
round the basé of the dorsal tentacles, and are arranged in about fourteen transverse rows
down the sides of the back, leaving a bare space in the middletfor about half way down. The
anterior rows contain ten or twelve papillæ each, and as they approach the foot, each of these
rows is subdivided into two or three, forming a close series of papillæ on; the lower part of the
body : above there is a short space intervening between each row. The posterior rows are
set inclose single series to near the tail, which extends a short way behind them, and is
generally produced into a fine linear point. Foot pale, slightly tinted with yellow, the spawn
appearing of a flesh colour through the centre : it is broadish, arched in front, slit transversely,
and extended at the sides into tentacular points.
A single specimen of this fine^. species was procured by the dredge ' off Berry
Head, in Torbay, in the summer of 1845. It lived with us some time, and.showed but little
activity.
Eolis glauca is perfectly distinct from any other, species we are acquainted with, and,
with the exception ôf E . papillosa, is the largest of the British Eolides. It is at once distinguished
from E . papillosa by its more slender form, and the clustering of the anterior
branchiae, but more especially by the curious vermicular form of these, appendages, which are
capable of a considerable degree of motion in an undulating manner.