The genus Euphrosyne of the family Amphinomæ was established by Savigny in his
‘ Système des Annélides ’ (1820) for two species (E. laureata and E. myrtosa) from the
Eed Sea. Briefly his description is as follows :—-Mouth with a simple unarmed proboscis.
Eyes distinct, two in number, separated in front by the caruncle. Antennæ incomplete,
the middle and exterior absent, the unpaired subulate. Feet slightly separated, but each
division provided with bristles having a minute denticle near the tip. Cirri nearly equal ;
an additional one resembling the others inserted at the upper extremity of each dorsal
division. The last pair of feet forming two small globular cirri. Branchiæ situated
immediately behind the feet, extend from the dorsal to the ventral division, and
consist of seven separate arborescent tufts arranged transversely. Head very narrow
and much produced (très rejeté) posteriorly, split into two lobes in conformity with the
feet ventrally, and provided dorsally with a depressed caruncle which is prolonged to the
fourth or fifth segment. The body is oblong or ovate-oblong, with comparatively few
segments.
Lamarck adopted the foregoing views in the classification of the group.
Audouin and Milne Edwards followed Savigny in regard to the systematic position
and description of the genus, and gave an account of a new species {E. foliosa) from the
shores of France.
Grube, Ehlers, and subsequent authors made little change in the characters attributed
to the Euphrosynidæ.
The Euphrosynidæ frequent both the littoral region and comparatively deep water,
a distribution that characterises both foreign and British species. Thus Euphrosyne
foliosa is diagnostic of the tidal rocks of the Channel Islands, while the other species
have been procured only by the dredge. They extend to the American shores.
1. E uphrosyne foliosa, Audouin and Edwards, 1834. Plate XXIV, fig. 3.
Specific Characters.—Caruncle extending to the anterior part of the fifth segment,
with a filiform tentacle in front between the dorsal eyes. • Branchias much branched,
with ovate expansions at the tip. The middle cirrus between the fourth and fifth
branchial stems. Bristles longer than the branchiaa, which are from eight to nine in
number. The serrated bristles have the longer fork peculiarly curved towards the tip.
Segments thirty-one to thirty-five.
S yno nyms.-
1883. Evphrosina foliosa, Audouin and M. Edwards. Ann. d. Sc. Nat., vol. xxviii, p. 201, pi. ix,
figs. 1—15.
1834. ,, „ Ibid. Litt, de la France, vol. ii, p. 126, pi. ii, b, figs. 1—4.
1836-7. „ „ Cuv. Eeg. An., Crochard’s Edit., tab. yiii, fig. 2.
1840. Euphrosyne foliosa, Grube. Actin., Echinod., &c., p. 84.
1841. „ ,, Delle Chiaje. Descrizione, Tav. 62, Tab. 139, figs. 6—8.
„ Lophonota Audouinvi, Costa. Ann. d. Sc. Nat. (2), vol. xvi, p. 270, pi. xiii, fig. 1.
1849. Euphrosyne foliosa, W. Thompson. Ann Nat. Hist., ser. 2, vol. iii, p. 355.
1851. Euphrosyne foliosa, Grube. Fam. der Annel., pp. 41 and 122.
1853. „ „ P. H. Gosse. Ann. Nat. Hist., 2, ser, vol. xii, p. 384.
1863. ,, mediterranea, Grube. Arcbiv f. Naturges., 1863, i, p. 38, pi. iv, fig. 2.
1864. ,, foliosa, Ehlers. , Die Borstenw., p. 65.
„ ,, ■ racemosa, Ehlers. Die Borstenw., p. 67, Taf. i, figs. 1—11.
1865. foliosa, Johnston. Cat., p. 126.
„ ,, „ De Quatrefages. Hist. Nat. Annélés, p. 408.
1868. ' ' „■ Baird. Proceed. Linn. Soc., vol. x, p. 287 (1870).
1870. „ ,,, Grube. Archiv f. Naturges., 1870, pi 304.
1875, ,, Audouini, Marion and Bobretzky. Ann. Sc. Nat., 1875, p. 10.
1876. ' ,, foliosa, McIntosh. Trans. Z. S., vol. ix, p. 273.
1884. ,, Audoumii (Claparède), V. Carus. Faunas Medit., p. 207.
1888. ,, foliosa, St. Joseph. Ann. d. Sc. Nat. (7), vol. v, p. 190.
1896. „ Audoumi, Racovitza. Arch. Zool. Exp., p. 186, pis. i et xi, figs. 7—13.
Habitat.—Belfast Bay, Hyndman; Weymouth, Gosse. Plentiful under stones near
the border of low water mark at Herm, Lankester, McIntosh, Hornell. Off the
Hebrides, Gwyn Jeffreys. Birterbury Bay, Connemara, fifteen fathoms, Gwyn Jeffreys,
Haddon. Arran Isles and Bay of Galway, E. P. Wright. Off Marsden, co. Durham,
twenty to thirty fathoms, A. M. Norman.
It was discovered in European waters by Audouin and Milne Edwards, viz., on a
bank of oysters and Anomise between Granville and Chausey in fifteen fathoms, and on
a small bank of the same kind at St. Malo. Ranges to the Mediterranean, where.it
occurs at considerable depths.
Colour.—Some of those from Herm are of a very fine deep reddish orange on the
dorsum, the branchial processes being of this colour. Ehlers describes his E. racemosa
as of an intense red (“ zwischen orange und ziunoberfarben ”). Others, again, were quite
greyish, or of an earthy hue. The under surface is either pinkish or pale flesh-colour.
They tinge spirit brick-red. Gosse’s example from Weymouth was of a bright cinnamon-
red, with the median ventral line purplish. Milne Edwards’ example seems to have
been vividly tinted of a fine cinnabar colour, very marked on the branchiae, and
mingled with yellow and green on the dorsum. The cirri were yellow, with a band of
red in the middle; while the caruncle was of a vivid red. The pinkish ventral surface
had a median band of vivid red.
The head is wedged between the anterior segments, and is distinguished mainly by
the caruncle and eyes. I t is more or less linear, with the elevated region somewhat
ovoid. The two dorsal eyes, which are black and of considerable size, lie at the anterior
border, and have the tentacle, which does not seem to taper much, rising between them.
The fillet, which runs forward from the caruncle, carries a pair of short tentacles, with
tactile hair-like processes, and bending over the tip of the snout, bears the two elongated
ventral eyes, which are smaller than the dorsal.1 The dorsal part of the fillet is stated by
Ehlers in E. racemosa to be covered with cilia, and it is probable that they also occur on
the ventral surface of the band.
The body of this species forms a somewhat elongate oval, the dorsal surface being
elevated, the ventral flattened. Dorsally a broad groove, smooth but for the segment-
1 J. V. Carus, in his ‘Prod. Faun. Medit.’ (1884), gives the genus only one pair of eyes.