1816.
1817.
1821.
1828.
1825.
1826.
1827.
1828.
1829.
1880.
1881.
1832.
1834.
1836.
1836—
1839.
1840.
1841.
1842.
1848.
1846.
1850.
1851.
1853.
1854.
1856.
1857.
1858.
1859.
1864.
1865.
1873.
Aphrodita aculeata, Cuvier. Diet, des Sc. nat., vol. ii, p. 282.
. „ „ Stewart’s Elements, vol. i, p. 887.
,, „ Treviranus. Zeit. f. Physiol., vol. iii, 2, p. 157.
„ „ Delle Chiaje, Mem. I, 182, Suppl., Tav. iv, f. 12.
,, ,, Home. Comp. Anat., vol. iv, pi. xxxix, f. 1, 2.
„ „ Blumenbaoh. Elem. Nat. Hist., p. 245.
Halithea aculeata, Lamarck. Anim. s. Vert., vol. v, p. 807, and 2e édit., vol. v, p. 542.
,, ,, Savigny. Syst, des Annel., p. 19.
,, sericea. Ibid.
Aphrodita sericea. Ibid.
Halithea aculeata, Risso. L’Europ. Mérid., vol. iv, p. 412.
,, ,, and aurata. Ibid., vol. iv, p. 418.
,, ,, Stark. Elem., vol. ii, p. 140.
Aphrodita aculeata, De Blainville. Diet, des Sc. nat., vol. lvii, p. 456, Atlas, pi. ix, f. 1.
,, „ Delle Chiaje, Mem., vol. iv, p. 209, Tav. 68, f. 10—15.
,, ,, Règne Anim., 2e édit., vol. iii, p. 206.
„ „ Bose. Vers., vol. i, p. 181.
» » Guérin. Icon, des Règ. Anim., vol. ii, pl. ix, f. 1.
Halithea aculeata, Treviranus. Edin. Journ. Nat. and Geogr. Sc., vol. iii, pp. 51, 246.
Aphrodita aculeata, Aud. and Ed. Ann. des Sc. nat., vol. xxvii, p. 402, pl. viii, f. 7.
» Aud. and Ed. Annél., p. 66, tab. i a, f. 7.
,> Templeton. Loud. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ix, p. 234.
7. „ „ Règne Anim., Illust., pl. xvii, f. 2 (Mem. edit.).
». » Johnston. Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 429,_pl. xxi, and vol. v, p. 805 (1840).
» ». Roget. Bridgew. Treat., vol. ii, pp. 102 and 298.
»» ,, Grube. Actin. Echin. u. Würmer, p. 88.
,, borealis, Johnston. Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. iv, p. 370 (young).
„ aculeata. Delle Chiaje, Descrizione, v, 59—61, Tav. cix, f. 6—8; Tav. cxxxiii f. 10__
15 (as before). '
» »» Fleming. Ency. Brit., edit. 7, vol. xi, p. 221.
,, „ Oersted. Consp. Annul. Dan., p. 11.
The Sea Scolopendra, Adams. Paul. Ægin., vol. ii, p. 174; vol. iii, p. 344 (1847).
Aphrodita aculeata, De Quatrefages. Ann. d. Sc. nat., 3e sér., vol. xiv, p. 362, pl. viii, f. 8 and 4.
« »» Williams. Report Brit. Assoc., 1851, pp. 172, 217, 287, and in Ann. Nat.
Hist., ser. 2, vol. xii, p. 405, pl. xiii, f. 5.
,, ,, Grube. Fam. Annel., pp. 35 and 119.
,, ,, ■ Maitland. Fauna Belg., p. 214.
a „ Dalyell. Pow. Cfeat., vol. ii, p. 170, pl. xxiv, f. 15, 16.
» « Mettenheimer. Abhandl. Senkenberg. Gesellsch., t. i, 1854, p. 9,
Frankfort (fide St. Joseph).
», „ Thompson. Fauna Ireland, vol. iv, p. 435.
» jj O. G. Costa. Annel. di Napoli, p. 2, Tav. i, f. 1—6.
» a Kinberg. Freg. Eugen. Resa, vol. ii, p. 3, tab. 1, f. 2.
a » Danielssen. K. Norske Videns.-Selsk., Bd. iv, Hft. 2, p. 114.
a a Grube. Die Insel Lussin, &c., p. 77.
« » Malmgren. Nord. Hafs-Ann. Kgl. Vet. Akad. förh., 1865, p. 52.
a a De Quatrefages. Ann., 191, pl. vi, f. 1.
Milnesia borealis, De Quatrefages. Annel., vol. i, p. 218.
Aphrodita borealis, Johnston. Catalogue Brit. Mus., p. 104, pl. x, f. 1—18.
,, aculeata, Sars. Bid. Kundsk. om Christ. Fauna, p. 1.
1878.
1875.
1879.
1884.
1886.
1888.
1890.
Aphrodita aculeata, Willemoes-Suhm.,, Zeitsch. f. w. Zool., vol. xxiii, p. 347.
,, ,, McIntosh. Invert., &c., St. Andrews, p. 115.
,, „ Tauber. Ann. Danic., p. 78.
,, ,, V. Cams. Fauna Medit., p. 198.
,, ,, Webster and Benedict. Ann. Chæt. Mass., Rept. Com. Fish and Fisheries,
p. 699.
,, „ Harvey Gibson. Vermes, Liverpool, Proc. Lit. Philos. Soc., vol. xl, p. 148.
,, „ De Saint-Joseph. Ann. d. Sc. nat. (7), vol. v, p. 146 (Polychæt. Dinard).
,, „ Malaquin. Ann. Boulon, 14.
Habitat.—A. aculeata is by no means uncommon in deep water off the eastern
shores, indeed all round the British Islands. I t generally frequents a somewhat soft
bottom. A specimen comes from .580 fathoms, on oozy ground in the Faroe Channel,
‘Knight Errant,’ 1880 (‘Challenger Report,’ p. 34). After great storms the beach at
St. Andrews is sometimes, e. g. in April, 1857, strewn with multitudes, so that the retiring
tide leaves a line of them for more than a mile. As the species is seldom encountered
within the bay proper, many were probably brought by the currents from the off-shore
grounds, such as near the Bell Rock and south-east of the Island of May. Grube, who
found it in the Adriatic (Lussin?), says that, according to Claparède and Malmgren, A.
aculeata is distributed both in the Atlantic and the North Sea, while Von Martens found
it at Madeira. I t extends to the shores of America (Massachusetts, &c.), and a closely
allied species to the north-west coast, though the minute characters of the form from
the latter region have not yet received that attention necessary for certainty.
The head in A. aculeata (Plate XXIV, fig. 6) is smoothly rounded in front, with a
median elevation posteriorly, and thus differs from that of Lætmatonice filicornis. The
comparatively small, smooth tentacle proceeds from the centre of the anterior curvature,
and has a short basal articulation ; then it gently dilates to the somewhat clavate tip of
the central piece, the terminal portion beyond having a dilated basal region, after which
it narrows and ends in a slightly enlarged tip. The terminal articulation varies, being
longer in some, shorter in others, and often presents a fusiform outline, with the tip
slightly enlarged. A little behind the tentacle is, on each side of the median line, a
blackish or brownish area (in the preparations)—the eye. The palpi are proportionally
shorter than in Lætmatonice filicornis, and taper gently from their basal articulation to the
tip. One is sometimes longer than the other—from reproduction of a lost organ. They
are papillose, as in L. filicornis, only the papillae are somewhat shorter. The facial tubercle
has sparsely distributed small globular papillae (Plate XXXVI, fig. 23), thus differing
much from L. filicornis. O. G. Costa’s fig. 2, Tav. i, therefore, is not an accurate
representation of the part in this species.
Body.—The body is somewhat ovoid or broadly spindle-shaped, with the broad end
in front. The dorsum is convex, covered with the dense greyish felt in the middle, and
flanked by the gorgeously iridescent green and golden hairs and lustrous brown spines.
The scales are entirely concealed by the felt, while in it many foreign structures are
often fixed. Segments (bristled) forty-three.
The ventral surface is flattened, and the skin is somewhat warty and rough, giving
rise to the somewhat fanciful comparison by Pallas to that of the shark, and often tinged