1. Lepidonotus squamatus, Linnaeus, 1788. Plate XXV, fig. 1.
Specific Characters.—Lateral tentacles longer than the cephalic lobe, median tentacle,
tentacular cirri, buccal and dorsal cirri inflated below the apex, smooth. Palpi
elongated and tapering, but in spirit scarcely longer than the median tentacle, the basal
part of which equals the length of the cephalic lobe. Scales ovate and reniform,
studded with chitinous bosses and ciliated on the outer margin. Bristled segments
twenty-six. Dorsal bristles long, tapering, and finely serrated, longer than those of
L. clava. Ventral bristles stout, with a short series of spikes on the distal and slightly
thickened portion of the shaft below the falcate apex. The distal row has two longer
spines. Ventral nerve-cords comparatively small, lying within the dense cuticle and-thin
granular layer of the epiderm, and in the area between the attachments of the oblique
muscles; only connective tissue internally.
1766.
1788.
1765.
1766.
1768.
1776;
1789.
1800.
1816-
1820.
1828.
1834.
1839.
1840.
1843.
1851.
1855.
1858.
1860.
1865.
1873.
1874.
1875;
1877.
1879.
Aphrodita squamata, Linn.. Syst. Nat., 12th edit., p. 1084.
| | 1 - J ; ' ,, (Gmelin) p. 3107.
,, Baster. Opnsc., subsec. ii, 2, p. 66, tab. vi, f. 5, A, B, C, D.
,, Pallas. Misc. Zool., p. 91, tab. vii, f. 14 a—d.
)t „ Pennant. Brit. Zool., iv, tab. xxiii, f. 26.
,, punctata, O. P. Müller. Prod. Zool. Dan., p. 218, n. 2642.-
„ „ Abildgaard. Zool. Dan., iii, p. 25, tab. xcvi, f. 1—4.
Die gedUpfelte Aphrodite, O. F. Müller. Naturges einiger Wurm-Arten, p. 1/0, tab. xiii.
-1830. Aphrodita squamata, Cuvier. Diet, des Sc. Nat., ii, p. 283. —
Polynoe squamata, Savigny. Syst., 22.
Eumolpe squamata, Blainville. Diet, des Sc. Nat., lviii, p. 458, pi. ix, f. 2.
Polynoe squamata, Aud. & Ed. Annel., p. 80, tab. i, f. 10—16.
„ „ Johnston. Ann. Nat. Hist., ii, p. 432, tab. xxii, fig. 1.
}j M Grube. Actin. Echinod. u. Wür., p. 87.
Lepidonote punctata, (Ersted. Annul. Danic. Conspect;, p. 12, f. 2, 5, 39, 41, 47, 48.
Lepidonotus squamatus, H. RatKke. Beiträge z. Faun. Norweg., 149.
Polynoe squamata, Maitland. Fauna Belg., p. 213.
? Lepidonote armadillo, Leidy. Mar. Invert. Rh. Is. & N. J., p. 16, pi. ii, f. 54.
Lepidonotus squamatus, Einberg. Freg. Eugen. Resa, p. 13, tab. iv, f. 15.
Polynoe squamata, Sars. Vid.-Selsk., Forbandl. for 1860, p. 4 (sep. copy), 57 (original copy).
Lepidonotus squamatus, Johnston. Cat. B. M., p. 109, pi. viii, f. 1.
• ' „ Malmgren. Nord. Hafs. Ann., p. 56.
Polynoe dasypus, De Quatrefages. Hist. Ann., i, p. 266.
Lepidonotus squamatus, Willemoes-Suhm. Zeitsch. f. w. Zool., xxni, p. 347.
)} „ Verrill. Invert. An. Vin. S.,Rept. TJ. S. Fish.,i,p. 581,pl. x,f. 40,41.
}) 3J Möbius. Untersuchung, d. Ostsee, p. 112;
„ . . ■ ^ McIntosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., April, 1874, p. 261.
}} }) McIntosh. Invert, and Fishes St. And., p. 115.
„ „ Huxley. Man. Invert.^ p- 227, &c.
' „ squamata, Webster. Annel. Ohset. Virgin., p. 4.
|f squamatus, Tauber. Ann. Danic., p. 79.
1883. Lepidonotus squamatus, Levinsen. Nord. Annulat., p. 194.
1884, „ „ Webster & Benedict. Ann. Mass., p. 699.
Polynoe squamata, A. G. Bourne. Trans. Linn. Spc., Zool., ii, p. 349, &c.
1886. Lepidonotus squamatus, Harvey-Gibson. Verm. Liverp., p. 150.
1888. Polynoe squamata, De Saint-Joseph. Ann. d. Sc. Nat. (7), v, p. 151.
1890. Lepidonotus squamatus, Malaquin. Ann. Boulon., p. 15.
1896. Polynoe squamata, H. F. Johnson. Pacific Annel., p. 166.
Habitat.—Everywhere round British shores, from Shetland to the Channel Islands,
under stones between tide-marks, and stretching to the laminarian and coralline regions
beyond, as well as to comparatively deep water (fifty fathoms), where it is partial to
crevices in old shells, especially univalves covered with coils of Sepulas, and the bottoms
of stones. I t is common in the stomachs of the cod and other fishes, and is frequently
tossed on shore after storms along the east coast, as at St. Andrews. I t extends across
the Atlantic to the Canadian and American waters—from the St. Lawrence to Cape
Cod, and passes as far south as the Azores, off which (Fayal) it was dredged at a depth
of 450 • fathoms in the c Challenger.’ In the north it ranges from Greenland to the
Norwegian and Western European coasts, and Gould includes it in his list from the
shores of Massachusetts.
Length about 25 mm.; more rarely 50 mm.
Head (Plate XXV, fig. 2) broadly ovate or rounded, bounded posteriorly by the fold
of the nuchal plate, and anteriorly running into the bases of the median and lateral
tentacles. I t is smooth, iridescent, purplish pink, has a longitudinal median furrow,
and bears on its dorso-lateral margins the four black eyes, the first and slightly larger
pair of which are rather in front of the middle line, and the second towards the posterior
border. Anteriorly the base of the median tentacle occupies the centre, and is distinguished
from the smaller bases of the lateral tentacles, conjoined with it, by the
arrangement of the dark pigment which forms a V with the point posteriorly. The
median tentacle is considerably longer than the lateral, all having the bulbous and more
deeply pigmented region below the pale filiform tip. Beyond the ceratophore the
column is opaque, whitish, toned off gradually to the dark ring at the enlargement. The
tentacular cirri are similar in structure but more slender. All these organs and the
palpi are smooth. In life the latter (palpi) are longer than the median tentacle.
Moreover, the first foot (basal -process of the tentacular cirri) bears on its inner edge
-towards the front a tuft of six or seven slightly curved and tapered spinous bristles;
These are shorter and thicker than the ordinary dorsal bristles. They are thus
apparently more numerous than in L. clam. The small size of all the appendages of the
head is a distinctive character when contrasted with the latter species.
Body of about twenty-six bristled segments. Dorsum smoothly rounded, with
three or four bars in each segment, at the sides of which are soft elevations upon which
the scales are placed, or which bear cirri at their external borders, the former being more
prominent than the latter. The dorsum is pale, but between the elevations for the last
pair of scales posteriorly a brown central patch occurs, while the segment behind
presents a median, blunt, spear-head of brown, and a lateral ocellate arrangement, the
whole being symmetrical. In the preparations the rigid contraction of the longitudinal