Tam-,3. TH2
EOLIS CORONATA, Forbes.
E. gracilis, albida: branchiis oblongis, sub-linearibus, rubris, coeruleo-tinctis, apicibus albis, in
fasciculis 6-7, digestis: tentaculis dorsalibus valde annulatis, annnlis 7-8: angulis anterioribus pedis
productis.
Eolida coronata, Forbes in Atbenseum for 1839, No. 618, p. 647.
Hab. Under loose stones and rocks between high and low water mark. Shetland, Professor E.
Forbes. Whitley, Cullercoats, and Newbiggin, Northumberland. Marsden, Durham. Rothesay Bay,
Isle of Bute. Dublin Bay and Malahide, Ireland.
Body about an inch long, slender, nearly linear and tapering to a fine point, of a transparent
watery white, tinged with rose-colour and buff, the latter from the viscera shining
through. Immediately behind the dorsal tentacles there is a large longitudinal stain of rose-
colour, caused by the oesophagus, and in front of them is a lozenge-shaped spot, of opake
white or blue, from which a streak of the same passes to the anterior margin of the head,
and another streak passes backwards between the tentacles, and terminates a short way
behind them. There is likewise a white streak on the ridge of the tail, and the upper surface
of the body is sprinkled over with irregular faint spots, of opake white, not . unfrequently
tinged with blue. Dorsal tentacles fawn-coloured, with a pale sulphur-yellow streak in
front, subclavate, having seven or eight wide membranous rings, and incomplete intermediate
ones, which gives them a peculiarly elegant appearance; points truncated. They spread
gradually apart above and approximate at the base, and are not much inclined forwards.
The portion, of the body bearing these tentacles is rather elevated. Oral tentacles much
longer than the dorsal ones, tapering, white, tinged with pink or blue, and generally held in
a gracefully curved position: they gradually enlarge at the base, so as to form a continuous
outline with the head. Their tips have an opake white streak. Branchiae elliptic-oblong,
nearly linear, cylindrical, set in six or seven clusters down each side of the back. Their
central vessel is of a deep crimson, varying occasionally to brick red, orange, or more rarely
pale rose-red or flesh colour, with the extremities darker ; the sheaths always reflecting more
or less of a bright ultramarine blue, which generally forms an oblong blotch or streak in front.
The apices have an imperfect opake white ring, expanded in front and prolonged into a streak
which passes a little way down the papillae. From above, the apex appears to be perforated;
an appearance caused by the white ring being confined to the surface, and the central part
transparent. The first cluster of branchiae, which forms with the opposite one a kind of ruff
round the neck, consists, in fine full-grown specimens, of twenty or thirty papillae, set in
transverse rows of five or six each, rather long on the back and diminishing towards the
sides. The second cluster, divided from the first by a short space, is less numerous, and the
rest become gradually less in number and size, ^bmetimes nearly coalescing. Foot slender,
extending beyond the branchiae behind and tapering to a fine point, the anterior margin is
slit transversely, and the upper laminae notched in the centre; the lateral angles produced
at the sides and curved backwards.
This fine species—one of the most beautiful of its tribe— occasionally reaches an inch