Reproduction.—Fine specimens from Gairloch, Ross-shire, were laden with ripe
ova in February, and had a dull greyish hue from the tint of the eggs.
Habits.—It is a sluggish form.
This is one of the discoveries of the acute and sagacious Col. Montagu on the
southern coast.
Like other Poïynoidæ it is predaceous, masses of the bristles of Harmothoë imbricata
being found in the intestine, with shreds of skin and other débris.
I t is probable that Risso’s Polinoë scutellatd1 is either this or L. squamatus.
Delle Chiaje s figures in the * Memorie *3 would appear to belong to this species j
the first represents the entire animal, and the second the posterior end enlarged,
though in the text it is termed the anterior end.
The statement by Audouin and Milne Edwards in their * Annéles ’ that perhaps
Montagu s Aphrodita clava approached their Polynoè lasvis, is due to a misapprehension.
The species much diverge.
Marenzeller,8 in 1875, reviewed the literature of this species, and showed the
identity of Risso s P . scutellata,» Delle Chiaje’s and Grube’s JEumolpe squamata, and the
P. modesta of De Quatrefages : he also linked on the P. grubiana of Claparède* with
Montagu s form ; but the palpi (Unterfuhler) of this species present a different appearance
from those examined, since they are studded all over with papillæ, whereas those of
L. clava have only rows of pointed papillæ, as indicated by Grube, in I860, in the
Mediterranean examples. Marenzeller procured British specimens from Cumbrae in the
Clyde.
I t is doubtful whether the form considered by Langerhans to be a young variety is
this species, since the palpi are smooth and the bristles diverge.
Baron de Saint-Joseph includes the Polynoè dorsalis o f 'De Quatrefages under
this species, but this is doubtful, since P. dorsalis has cilia on the external margin of
the scales. An examination of the specimen, however, may have shown that this is an
error in description. He likewise places Lepidonotus wahlbergi, Kinberg, under the
same head, but the foreign species differs, even under a lens, by the fact that the scales
throughout, that is to the last, have numerous tubercles, those in front forming prominent
spines ; and, besides, the scales of L. clava, Montagu, are proportionally larger
and, with the exception of first four pairs, are nearly smooth. Only in the old scales is
there a belt of minute tubercles within the edge, and similar minute processes over the
surface. These are, however, very different from those of L. wahlbergi. This distinction
is clearly shown in the figure6 in the ‘Challenger’ volume. Moreover, the dorsal
bristles are much less tapered and acute than in L. clava, the reverse being the case
with the ventral, which are proportionally more slender and elongate, and with a longer
row of spines than in L. clava.6
1 ‘ I/Europ. mérid./ p. 414.
2 Op. cit.
3 “ Zur Kenntniss der adriatischen Ann el.,” ‘ Wiener Akad. Ber./ 1 Abth., Juli-Heft, 1875, p. 1,
sep. AM.
4 A view still held by Dr. Benham, ‘ Camb. Nat. Hist./ “ Polychæt., &c.,” p. 310, 1896. (,
1 pi. f j f. i.
6 Vide McIntosh, ‘Ann. Nat. Hist./ ser. 7, vol. ii, p. 108, pi. ii, f. 12, 1898.
Genus IX.—Gattyana (Nychia,1 Malmgren), Mcl.
Lateral tentacles arising below the base of the median, they and the cirri densely
covered with long cilia. Palpi with numerous short clavate papilla truncate at the tip.
Scales fifteen pairs, minutely spinous, covering all the dorsum, and attached to segments
1, 8, 4, 6, 8, . . . . 22, -25, 28, 31. Bristles of the dorsal lobe ranging from stout,
curved, and spinose inner forms to elongated ones with tapering, hair-like tips, finely
spinous. Bristles of the inferior division' stouter, with spinous distal regions and simple
hooked tips.
Gattyana oirbosa, Pallas, 1766. Plate XXY, fig. 3.
Specific Characters.,—Body of thirty-five to thirty-six bristled segments with a transverse
impression in most. Head produced anteriorly into two pointed lobes. Tentacles and
cirri densely covered with cilia. Scales, with the exception of the first pair, somewhat
reniform, with long cilia on the posterior and external margins, smooth to the naked eye,
but with many minute spines on the surface, the larger being external and posterior,
with the tips often bifid, generally pale olive or buff, and frequently with a dark spot at
the point of attachment. Dorsal bristles somewhat slender, with long tapering hair-like
tips and rows of spines. Ventral bristles with simple hooked tips, beneath which is a
spinous region which diminishes in length in the bristles from above downwards.
Ventral cirrus short, with a few short clavate papillae. Segmental process slightly
tapered towards the tip, and of moderate length.
S ynonyms.
1766.
1780.
1792.
1815.
1820.
1828.
1884.
1839.
1843.
185Ö.
1851.
1858.
Aphrodita cirrhosa, Pallas. Miscell. Zool., p. 95, Tab. 8, figs. 3—6.
,, scabra, Fabricius. Fauna Groeul., p. 311, n. 292.
„ punctata, Fabricius. Ibid., p. 311.
• . scabra, Bruguiere, Encyc. Method., vers, i, p. 88.
„ viridis, Montagu. Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. xi, p. 18, Tab. 4, fig. 1.
„ scabra, Savigny. Syst, des An., 26.
,, punctata, Savigny. Ibid.
JEumolpe scabra, De Blainville. Diet. d. Sei. Nat., vol. lvii, p. 459.
Polynoè scabra, Aud. and Ed. Ann., 87.
Polynoè viridis, Johnston. Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 437.
Lepidonotus assimilis, OErsted. Annulât. Danic. Consp., p. 13, figs. 3, 6, 14,32, 33, 37, 38,
45, 46.
. ,, . scabra, Ibid. Grönl. Ann. Dorsib., 164, pi. 1, figs. 2, 7, 10, 13, 17 and 18.
Lepidonote scabra, Sars. Reise i Lof. og Finna., p. 209.
Polynoè scabra, Grube. Fana, der Ann., 87 and 120.
Ha/rmothoë scabra, Kinberg. Eug. Resa, 21.'
1 The title Nychia had already been used by Stal for one of the Hemiptera, so that Malxngren’s
name (1865) lapses. The term Gattyana may accordingly be appropriately substituted, after the
generous founder of the New Marine Laboratory at St. Andrews.