slight enlargement towards the tip, and the latter is attenuate. The cilia are numerous,
rather short and clavate, and extend beyond the distal pigment-bar. They become more
slender posteriorly, but have the same structure. In these translucent organs the areolse
of the hypoderm (epidermic. granular layer) are very visible. The long first ventral
cirrus is ciliated like one of the dorsal, and some of the succeeding ordinary forms
show a few cilia. These gradually disappear and leave the cirrus smooth throughout
the greater part of the body.
Some from Guernsey have the dorsal bristles covered with a reddish-brown or dull
orange granular coating, from the surface of which minute algoid filaments project.
Such would seem to be parasitic. A similar growth occurs on the dorsal bristles at
•St. Andrews.
In my notes of November, 1873, at St. Andrews, this species (and the preparation
accompanies) is described as phosphorescent, but recent examination, both when laden
with ova in January and in the warmer months, such as July, has not borne out this
description. In the preparation the bristles, especially the dorsal, are covered with a
parasitic granular growth.
Though this form is more plentiful in the south, the size of some dredged off Balta
is quite as large as elsewhere.
In a specimen from Lochmaddy in which five of the posterior feet of the right side
had been removed, long papillae from the dorsal border (cirri?) and shorter papillae
from the ventral indicated regeneration.
Reproduction.—A specimen from St. Andrews in November was laden with ripe ova,
so that the breeding season would seem to be in winter, as in the case of Harmothoe.
Variety.—A very distinct variety comes from the | Porcupine/ 1869, 173 fathoms,
on muddy sand, bottom temperature 49'6°; from 45 fathoms, eight miles N.W. of Cape
Sagres, ‘ Porcupine/ 1870 ; off the Hebrides, 1866, Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys; West Sands, St.
Andrews, 1867 (R. M.); and 90—25 fathoms, 30—50 miles west of Valencia, Ireland
(Prof. Haddon). Abundant in various parts off Shetland, Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, 1867-8.
The pigment on the scales is similar; that on the naked segments posteriorly, however,
diverges, for it forms a single fan with a posterior bar only. Moreover, the
papilla for the dorsal bristles has black pigment. No appreciable change is observable
in the structure of the scales. The distinguishing feature is the condition of the dorsal
bristles, which, instead of forming the elongated tip so characteristic of the typical
form, end bluntly, so that the whole tip is broad, with a very short, bare portion at the
tip. The spinous rows are as closely arranged as in the normal form. The ventral
bristles and cirri do not differ from the typical example.
A form dredged by the ‘Porcupine’ in 173 fathoms, 1869, and in 160 fathoms, 17th
August, 1870 (No. 42), differs from Lagisca floccosa and its variety in having no distinct
bosses or globular papillae on the scales posteriorly, while considerable papillae occur
anteriorly; the scales, moreover, having much larger spines, which show a tendency to
be arranged in rows in the reniform scales, the largest being near the posterior border.
In the first pair of scales the spines are larger, and the short cilia extend at intervals all
round, while a few short cilia occur along the outer and posterior edge. The ventral cirri
have a few clavate cilia. The bristles of the dorsal branch of the foot (Plate XXXVIII,
fig. 3, an average form) have the spinous rows much more distinct than in L. floccosa or
its variety, and the smooth portion at the tip is small and acutely pointed. The ventral
bristles do not much differ. The anterior pair of eyes are proportionately much larger
than in L. floccosa.
The Polyno'e foliosa of Savigny (1820) seems to come near this species.
De Quatrefages (1865) describes it as having a small head, almost quadrate, a long
thick median antenna, the lateral small and slender. Segments 40—42. Scales large,
much imbricated and decussate, rounded, smooth, not ciliated, caducous. He procured
it, 42 mm. long, on the oyster-banks at St. Vaast. When living it is of a brownish-white
colour (reddish brown ?), and thus is readily distinguished from its congeners.
Grube found a species at St. Vaast, where De Quatrefages had met with his, with
only fifteen pairs of elytra, which, however, had cilia on their border (“ Am Aussenrande
gefranzte Elytren besitzt ”). If such be so, then the species differs from Lagisca floccosa,
in which no cilia are present on the scales.
Hornell says his specimens possess fifteen pairs of elytra, with only subglobular
processes on the margin (whereas P. floccosa has clavate). He thinks Malmgren’s artist
exaggerated the spikes on the dorsal bristles, making them too coarse. His specimens
agreed in colour with Malmgren’s L. propinqua, but differed from mine. He figures one
of the globular papillaa near the margin of the scale.
L. Roule found what he thinks a variety at depths ranging from 650 metres to
1700 metres in the Atlantic, with small eves and pale scales. Its relationship to other
closely allied forms has yet to be determined.
2. Lagisca Elisabethæ,1 McIntosh, n. s.
Specific Characters.—This species has 30—35 segments, but a considerable portion
of the tail is absent. Head curiously mottled with black. Eyes black, nearly equal ; a
pair at the anterior border, and the other on the lateral prominence of the head.
Tentacles and tentacular cirri ciliated, and the ventral cirri have also short clavate cilia.
Palpi with a dense series of minute papillæ with enlarged tips. Scales, probably fifteen
pairs, scabrous, greyish mottled with black, densely spinous, with one or two large conical
processes posteriorly, and the outer and posterior edge fringed with club-shaped cilia.
Dorsal bristles with well-marked spinous rows, and a minute bare portion at the tip.
Ventral bristles mostly bifid. Akin to L. floccosa.
S yno nyms.
1875. Lagisca propinqua, McIntosh. Invert, and Fish., St. A., p. 115.
1876. „ „ Ibid. Trans. Zool. Soc., ix, p. 375, pi. lxvii, figs. 12—14.
Habitat.—Procured from the débris brought by fishing-boats from the off-shore
waters, St. Andrews, 1870 (E. M.).
Head (Plate XXVII, fig. 3).—The head is curiously marked, for a pale band of
considerable breadth occurs posteriorly—boldly defined by the blackish collar. A pale
1 Named after the best benefactress in Marine Zoology my museum ever had.
40