ganglia formed a systemic trunk with hearts, the reddish colour being characteristic of
the various parts of the nervous system in this species. The true sanguiferous system is
best seen in moribund fresh examples. In the dorsal region is a membranous space (the
great vein) filled with turbid lymph, and it gives off twigs between the intestinal pinnæ,
and long branches anteriorly. He alludes .to the anterior extremity of the great vein
over the ventriculus, and figures it. Under the intestine is a longitudinal vessel with
lateral branches. He noticed the perivisceral fluid and its corpuscles, and found ova in
June in masses therein, and also spermatozoa in males, but did not knowhow they gained
exit. I t is the Söe-Muus and Gold-Muus of O. F. Müller in his ‘ Zoologia Danica
Prodromus * (1776).
In the first volume of his ‘ Memorie ’ (1823) Delle Chiaje refers to his figures on
Tav. iv, in which the exterior, the structure of the proboscis, and alimentary canal are
sketched. In his fourth volume (1829) he again recurs to the same form, giving a somewhat
indifferent view of the body, several sketches indicating the arrangement of the
nervous and digestive systems, and the three series of bristles on the ventral surface of
the foot.
Treviranus1 described the external apertures of the segmental organs in Aphrodita.
Delle Chia je and he regarded them as openings by which water got into the perivisceral
cavity ; that in reality the ciliary current moves the reverse way.
Audouin and M. Edwards considered this the most beautiful and brilliant of all the
Annelids, stating that it is called the sea-mole and sea-mouse, and that it inhabits the
depths off shore, and also the oyster-banks. Rarely is it tossed on shore. The
Aphrodita sericea of Savigny they could not find in the museum, while his A. aurata
is probably a young example of A. aculeata.
Carus and Jourdan 2 figure the body of A. aculeata in vertical section, and also the
alimentary canal, but nothing is added to previous knowledge.
In the Memorial Edition of Cuvier it is said that the flexuous bristles of Aphrodita
shine with all the brilliancy of gold, and change into all the tints of the rainbow. They
do not yield in beauty to the plumage of the humming-bird, nor to the most lively lustre
of precious stones. The gills are concealed by the scales, and are in the form of small
fleshy crests.
Sir J. Daly ell (18o2) noticed the habit of elevating, or, as he calls it, recurving
the posterior extremity of the body, and “ discharging a stream of water from an orifice
there.” None of his specimens fed on any substance offered to them. The account of
the segmental organs of this species by Dr. Thomas Williams4 seems to rest on a misinterpretation
of the parts. He also states'that the blood-vascular system is absent.
De Quatrefages (1865) gives a somewhat detailed account of its external characters.
He records thirty-nine rings and fifteen pairs of scales, and a length of 16—17 centimetres
(6 or 7 inches). He mentions an elevated cutaneous fold (facial tubercle?) in the
middle line running to the mouth. The median antenna is implanted on a caruncle. His
1 Tied, and Trevir., ‘ Zeitsch. f. Physiol./ Bd. iii, 2, p. .157, 1829.
2 ‘ Traité élém. d’Anat. comp./ Paris, 1835, pi. v, figs. 24, 25.
8 ‘ Pow. Creatoi’/ vol. ii, p. 171.
4 ‘Philos.Trans./ 1858, p. 134, pi. viii, figs. 26, 28.
MiVnesia borealis (Johnst.) is only the young of A. aculeata in, a somewhat imperfect con-
dition.
Grube was of opinion that the A. sericea of Savigny, and A. borealis, Johnst., refer to
this species, and that Bisso's form, A. aurata, is the young of the same.
Claparède1 describes the peritoneal coat of this species as being the most distinct
example in the group, and he figures, the fine striæ which characterise its At
intervals -on this surface he found groups (mouchets) of vibratile cilia as in Eennione,
and as Sharpey had long previously observed. He alludes to the ovaries which he found
on the ventral surface at the bases of the feet. They were in bands (boyau), in the
median line attaohed to a cord. He could not satisfy himself as to the nature of this
cord. He further points out the peculiar structure of the papillæ, the bases, of which can
be traced.to the interior of the palpi. He differs from De Quatrefages, who states that the
first two pairs of ganglia are completely separated from their homologues of the other
side. He-considers that these ganglia do not exist f'they are simply the inferior part of
the oesophageal connectives.
A good account of the distribution of the blood-vessels of this species is given by
Prof. E. Selenka.2 He describes in injected specimens a dorsal and a ventral vessel
running above and below the gut, the former being connected with the trunks of communication—
which course in a parallel manner round the gut by an intermediate
series of inosculating vessels. A fine network is found in the dissepiments and the
membranes in connection with the intestinal cæea, as well as certain vessels which
end blindly over the dorsal muscles, the nephridia, and other parts. He describes also
the growth of the ova in dense masses on the vascular trunks at the bases of the feet.
The larger eggs have a fine membranous capsule with nuclei; the smaller ova are
brownish red.
Grube3 (1874) says that in large examples of Aphrodita aculeata forty-three segments
occur, and that Savigny observes that the two dorsal tufts of hairs (felt) come from
the elytra-bearing segments, while Audouin and Milne Edwards held that they come
from the cirrus-bearing segments. Grube’s examples were in the former condition.
Carus4 (1884) mentions that it is called Ti veggo (Claparède) at Naples, a name,
however, given to other forms ; and that an Annelid, Branchiomma vigilans, Claparède, is
parasitic on it.
Dr. Hugo Eisig6 (1887) makes an interesting comparison, with figures, of the
bristles and hairs of this species with the golden yellow secretion of the spinning glands
of Polyodontes maxillosus.
1 ‘ Ann. Chæt./ Nap., 1868.
2 ‘ Niederländisches Archiv für Zool./ Bd. i, Heft 2, p. 33, Taf. iii and iv, 1872.
3 Op. cit., 1874.
* ‘ Fauna Médit./ vol. i, p. 199.
6 ‘ Monogr. der Capitelliden/ Naples, 1887, p. 331, et seq., Taf. xxxvi.