white touches; anterior dorsal region violet brown, or dull orange, the anterior region
being somewhat paler, branchige violet, banded with white. Anterior bristles in two
groups: upper with long shafts and tapering tips with narrow wings ; lower with shorter
and thicker shafts, and tips with broader wings; bristles of the second region with intermediate
tips, but which greatly lengthen posteriorly. Anterior hooks avicular with
minute serrations above the main fang; neck rather long, and base long and tapered;
accompanying bristles with pointed spatulate tip.
Synonyms.
1808 ?. Amphitrite vesiculosa, Montagu. MS. vol. Linn. Soc., pi. xxi.
1815. „ „ idem. Linn. Trans., xi, p. 19, Tab. v, fig. 1.
1828 ?. Sabella ,, Stark. Elements, ii, p. 183.
1843. ,, Milne Edwards.. Règne Anim. illust., pi. v, fig. 3.
1845. „ ,, Johnston. Ann. Nat. Hist., xvi, p. 449.
„ ,, penicillus, Chenu. Bibl. Conch., t. Ier, p. 247, pi. xx, fig. 4.
1846. „ lamgera, G-rube. Arch. f. Naturges., p. 51, pi. i, fig. 1.
1851. „ vesiculosa, Williams. Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1851, p. 205.
' . „ „ G-rube, Earn. Armel., pp. 88 and 140.
1853. „ „ ‘Williams. Ann. Nat. Hist., 2nd ser., vol. xii, p. 395.
1865. ,, „ Johnston. Cat. Worms Brit. Mus., pp. 295 and 346.
„ » . ,, (partim), De Quatrefages. Annel., t. ii, p. 450.
„ . „ terebelloides, idem. Ibid., t. ii, p. 438.
,, ? „ Kroyeri, idem. Ibid., p. 438.
„ „ arénilega, idem. Ibid., p. 439.
1867. ' „ vesiculosa, Parfitt. Cat'. Annel. Devon, p. 34.
1868. Branchiomma vesiculosv/m var. Neapolitana, Claparède. Annel Nap., p. 424, pi. xxii, fig. 5.
1869. Sabella vesiculosa, Grube. Mitt. St. Vaast, etc., Abhandl. Schles. Gesell., 1868—9, .p. 105.
1870. „ . „ idem. Arch. f. Naturges., p. 345.
,, ,, lanigera, idem. Ibid., p. 345.
1873. Branchiomma vesiculosum, Claparède. Annél. sédent., pp. 34, 48, 99, 117, pi. xiv, figs. 9—11.
1874. Sabella (Branchiomma) vesiculosa, McIntosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. xiv, p. 205.
,, Branchiomma vesiculosa, Encycl. Brit., Helminthology, p. 68, fig. 16.
1875. „ vesiculosum, Panceri. Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat., vol. xviii, p. 532.
„ Sabella (.Branchiomma) vesiculosa, McIntosh. Invert, and Fishes St. Andrews, p. 130.
„ „ vesiculosa, idem. Encycl. Brit., Helminthology, p.. 294, fig. 3, pi. cclxxv, fig. 5.
1884. Branchiomma vesiculosum, Langerhans. Zeit. w. Zool., Bd. xl, p. 268, pi. xvi, fig. 31.
1885. „ ,, McIntosh. “Challenger” Annel.,p. 493,and pi. xxxa, figs. 10—12.
|| }} ■' • ,, Caras. Fauna Medit., i, p. 271.
1888. ,, ,, Brunotte. Recher. Anat. Branch., Nancy, pp. 5—75, pis. i and ii.
1891. „ ,, Soulier. Anat. Annél. tubic., pp. 30, 38, 53, 98, 129, 235.
1893. ,, ,, Lo Bianco. Annel. tubic. Nap. Atti d. Scienze di Nap., 2 ®ser., t. v,
No. 11, p. 69, pi. iii, fig. 4.
1894. „ ,, De St. Joseph. Ann. Sc. nat., 7e sér., t. xvii, p. 300, pi. xi, figs.
303—314.
1904. ,, ■_]i „ Joum. M. B. A., vol. vii, p. 231.
1906. ,, » Bohn. Ann. Sc. nat., 9e sér., t. iii, p. 130 (movements).
1909. Branchiomma ■ flllS vesiculosum, Fauvel. Bull. Inst. Oceanogr., cxlii, p. 43. „ Lo Bianco. Mitt. Zool. St. Neap., Bd. xix, p. 578.
Fauvel. Ann. Sc. nat. 9® ser., t. x, p. 210.
1913. „ - ‘ Ehlers. Südpol. Exped., p. 574.
1914. „ „ Southern. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xxxi, No. 47, p. 139.
,, Fauvel. Campag. Scient. Monaco, xlvi, p. 317.
1915. Allen. Journ. M. B. A., vol. x, p. 641.
„ . Southern. Irish Sc. Invest., No. 3, p. 49.
1916. „ McIntosh.. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. xvi, p. 16.
1917. ,, Rioja. Anei. Poliq. Cantäb., p. 65.
Habitat.—South coast of Devon (Montagu), Yealm sand-bank, Rum Bay, etc.,
Plymouth (Allen)^ Generally procured by dredging, but also is found between tide-
marks. West coast of Ireland (Southern). Elsewhere it occurs'in the Channel, Atlantic,
Mediterranean (Claparède), Madeira (Langerhans), Dinard (De St. Joseph), Naples (Lo
Bianco); Azores, Bay of Fayal (Fauvel), shores of Cantabria (Rioja), Simonstown (Ehlers),
St. Vaast-la-Hougue (Fauvel).
Kôlliker,1 in 1858, constituted the genus Branchiomma for those Sabellids possessing
eyes on their branchiæ, and he gave us a type, Amphitrite bombyx, Dalyell. Sars a little
later (1861)8 made- the genus Ddsychone, characterised by the dorsal pinnules on the
branchiæ. Claparède rightly restricts the term Branchiomma to those having subterminal
eyes, such as B. Kôlliheri—the form which Kôlliker probably studied. Dorsally
the cephalic plate presents a deep fissure between the firm basal pillars of the branchiæ.
The somewhat deep collar arises from the outer edge of each pillar and slopes with an
unbroken edge downward and forward to the mid-ventral line, where a fissure separates
the two sides, each of which is produced into a prominent rounded edge which slightly
overlaps its neighbour. The adjoining first scute is indented in the middle line, thus
giving a character to the region. Whilst, therefore, the collar is largely developed
ventrally, a considerable part of the dorsum is devoid of it. De St. Joseph found two
pigment-spots (eyes) over the cephalic ganglia. An otocyst occurs on each side at the base
of the branchiæ. The branchiæ are of moderate length (onersixth length of body,
Montagu), and their filaments are from eighteen to twenty-four in number. Each filament
has the usual structure and tapers distally, ending in a subulate whitish terminal
process into which the chordoid axis, which is remarkably attenuate toward the tip, does
not go. The subulate terminal filament when no eye is present has a translucent thin
margin, especially at the commencement of its inner edge. It is at this region, viz. the
inner base, that the eye develops as a conspicuous dark brownish-violet organ, a stripe
of the flattened translucent margin connecting its inner base with the line of the pinnæ,
whereas the distal part of the process is slender. The pinnæ are very fine, of average
length, and provided with a chordoid unjointed axis. When injured these organs are
readily reproduced from the filament, to which they give a feathery appearance. When
the animal projects itself from its tube, the branchiæ are gracefully spread like the flower
1 ' Zeitsohr. f. wiss. Zool./ Bd. ix, p. 536.
2 f Vidensk. Selsk. Forhandl./ 1861, ,pp. 28 and 33.