as a narrow belt split by the ventral furrow. Bristles of two kinds anteriorly, with long
slender shafts and tapering winged tips, and others with broad wings and short tapering
ends. Posteriorly only bristles with broad wings and tapering tips. Anterior hooks with
a high crown, a moderate main fang and six or seven distinct teeth above it, the prow
very large and prominent, the posterior outline straight and a short rudiment of a- posterior
basal process. The posterior hooks have the same high crowns and general shape, but
are devoid of the basal process posteriorly. Tube of secretion and mud.
Synonyms.
1865. Laonome Kroveri,
1867.
1887. ,, .
1889. „ . H | H
1913. „ „
Malmgren. Nordiska Hafs.-Annul., p. 400, Tab. xxvii, fig. 85.
idem. Annul. Polych., p. 113.
Cunningham and Ramage. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxiii, p. 669.
Marenzeller. Arch. f. Naturges., lv, p. 132.
Hofsommer. Wiss. Meeres. Komm. deutsch., Bd. xv, p. 324, Taf. iv,
figs. 3—5.
1914. „ 1 ■ Southern. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xxxi, No. 47, p. 139.
1916. „ ,, McIntosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser.-8, vol. xvi, p. 15.
Habitat.—Inishlyre Harbour, Clew Bay, single example (Southern) ; Firth of Forth
(Cunningham and Ramage).-
Abroad it extends to Spitzbergen and the northern seas.
The cephalic collar1 is somewhat low, being deepest ventrally where the edges overlap
at the fissure. In the median line dorsally the gap is both wide and depressed in
front, and the edges of the collar there are slightly reflected. The branchise are short in
proportion to the length of the body and from fourteen to sixteen in number. The
filaments have a chordoid axis with narrow transverse septa, and terminate in a slender
tapering process. The pinnae are short at the base, increase in length till near the tip,
where they again diminish before reaching the base of the terminal filament. No pigment-
specks were visible in the spirit-preparation. Tentacles comparatively short, bluntly
tapered distally. The body is comparatively long and slender, and the example showed
little diminution throughout its length, having apparently been preserved in its tube and
then cut out. The segments are fairly distinct, those of the anterior region ranging from
eight to twelve (Malmgren). The ventral scutes of the region are distinct and undivided,
and there is a dorsal groove, behind which a line marks the fnid-dorsal region for some
distance. The scutes are continued backward on the ventral surface as a somewhat
narrow pale band, the central groove cutting the portion in each segment into two. In
the preparation the bristles are inconspicuous. The anterior are of two kinds—a series
with slender elongate shafts and short tapering tips with narrow wings (Plate CXXIX,
fig. 3 a), and a larger number with stouter shafts and paddle-like tips with broad wings
(Plate CXXIX, fig. 3 c) and a tapering process of the axis. The posterior bristles are of
one kind only, viz. those with narrow but distinct wings and long tapering tips
(Plate CXXIX, fig. 3 &). The anterior hooks (Plate CXXIX, fig. 3 d) are avicular with a
characteristic short and stout outline and a high crown, a main fang of moderate size and
six or seven distinct spikes in lateral view above it. The anterior prow is large and
1 I have to thank Mr. Southern for sending the single example for examination.
bulging; the gulf between it and the great fang is small. The posterior outline is
straight, and a small remnant of the base, posteriorly is present. The posterior hooks
(Plate CXXIX, fig. 3 e) agree in the general outline, but the process of the base is absent
posteriorly. It is this hook which Malmgren shows in his figure, unless the Arctic
species differs. In shape the hooks generally approach those of Huchone. The tube
is composed of secretion and mud, very little of the latter constituent occurring on a
third of the length at one end.
Cunningham and Ramage (1888) state that they dredged an example on the Middle
Bank, Firth of Forth. Nothing more is mentioned.
Genus CLXIV.—B ranchiomma, KdlliJcer (Clap, revis.), 185 8.
Cephalic plate with a deep dorsal fissure ; collar has a distinct dorsal lamella separated
from the main part by a V-shaped notch ; edges overlap at the fissure in the mid-
ventral line. Branchiæ have a subulate terminal filament with a compound eye (minute
in some) on the inner edge. Tentacles (or palps) a pair. Mouth with lateral labial
processes. Body slightly flattened, tapering a little posteriorly, and ending in an anus.
Segments 100—120. Anterior region of eight to nine segments. Anterior bristles in two
groups, upper with narrow wings, lower with broader wings. Posteriorly tips are much
elongated. Anterior hooks avicular with minute serrations on the main fang : accompanied
by small penniform bristles. Posterior hooks similar but with shorter bases.
Tubes colonial, coriaceous internally : externally with a coating of mud or fragments of
shells, gravel, zoophytes, algæ and other growths.
1. Branchiomma vesiou lostjm, Montagu, 1815. Plate CXV, figs. 2 and 2 a—body
and tube; Plate CXXVIII, figs. 4—4/—bristles and hooks; Plate CXX, figs.
9 and 9a—anterior end and tip of branchia; Plate CXXXVIII, fig. 4—tip of
branchial filament of var. B. Kollikeri.
Specific Characters.—Cephalic plate with a deep fissure dorsally, on each side of
which the somewhat deep white collar has a separate dorsal lamella, a V-shaped notch
separating it from the main part, which slopes downward and forward with an unbroken
edge to the mid-ventral line where the full and rounded edges overlap. Two eyes over
the brain. Branchiæ of moderate length; filaments white externally, from eighteen to
twenty (thirty-two, Claparède), each ending in a subulate terminal process into which the
chordoid axis does not go, and often with an eye on the inner edge. Pinnæ numerous,
very fine, of average length, and brownish-violet in colour, or with white bands. Some
are pale olive green with a band of white along the exterior of the filament. Others are
rose-pink with white specks; a few milk-white with a faint roseate hue (Brunotte).
Body reaches 110 mm. or more; segments 100—120; slightly flattened, especially
posteriorly, where it is tapered and ends in an anus. Anterior region of nine segments,
eight of which are bristled ; dorsal groove passes between setigerous processes 8 and 9,
and reaches the mid-ventral line behind scute 9, from which it is continued to the tail.
Nine scutes in the anterior region, the first with a median dimple. Colour brown with