The body is comparatively small, about 12 mm. in length and 2*5 mm. at its widest
part, slightly diminished in front and gently tapering to the tail. As in Malmgren’s
figure, eight to twelve segments follow the bristled region, but in some examples two
thick short subulate cirri occurred at the tip, and they seemed to be larger than the
dorsal cirri in front of them and less clavate in outline, as when viewed from above the
dorsal cirri are clavate, with a narrow base and rounded or bluntly ovoid tips. The last
setigerous process is followed by a short dorsal cirrus, the succeeding cirri having a more
elongated stalk and a more distinctly enlarged tip. The ventral uncinigerous processes
are bluntly conical papillas, a considerable ridge intervening between them and the
dorsal cirri.
The bristles (Plate CXXIV, fig. 86) are pale golden, almost devoid of wings, and
have long, finely tapered tips with a trace of a curve.
The hooks (Plate CXXIV, figs. 8 and 8 a) commence on the fourth segment, have a nearly
straight posterior outline, a slightly sinuous ventral margin which curves upward at the
prow anteriorly, and four to five teeth, the first being smaller than the second, the third
and fourth larger than the second, the fifth stouter than the others, and separated
along the anterior margin by a gulf from the rounded prow, the lowest tooth being the
stoutest. The hook has a different shape from that of A. Malmgreni from the greater
depth posteriorly—that is, from the angle to the front. The posterior hooks are
smaller but of similar structure.
The tube consisted of secretion covered with soft, grey mud, and in some the
secretion adhered firmly to the surface of the annelid.
Reproduction.—The Norwegian examples had large ova in July.
A form dredged by Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys off the Hebrides (Plate CXXIV, figs. 9 and
9 a—bristle and hook) in 1866 is devoid of palmulas, and has about fourteen bristle-
bundles on each side, but this number is uncertain, for the only example is pulpy and
imperfect, the tentacles are smooth and club-shaped, and the ventral glandular bars of
the segments very distinct. The bristles (Plate CXXIV, fig. 9) offer ho feature of note,
being the ordinary winged forms.
The hooks (Plate CXXIV, fig. 9 a)1 lean in their outline rather to those of Melinna than
to those of Amage, yet differ characteristically from both. They are somewhat triangular,'
with a narrow crown and five teeth, the fifth being shorter and broader from the form of
the “ bite ” between it and the prow, which is somewhat abruptly rounded. The process
for the ligament is carried nearly to the base posteriorly. The “ bite ” is somewhat larger
than shown in the R.S.E. figures.
The Amage adspersa of Grube has hooks with only four teeth. It occurs at Madeira
(Langerhans).2
Genus CXLIII.—Melinna, Malmgren, 1865.
Cephalic lobe smooth, without an elevated frontal part, palpode rudimentary (Fauvel).
Anterior margin transverse. Buccal segment produced longitudinally at the sides of the
1 Vide also ‘ Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin./ vol. xxv, pi. xiii, figs. 10 and 10 a.
2 ‘Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool./ Bd. xxxi, p. 261, Taf. xv, fig. 19.
cephalic lobe. Two groups of simple eyes ; nuchal organs ciliated grooves. Tentacles
smooth, filiform. Four rather long, subulate branchiae on each side. A single large
curved hook on each side with two basal glands behind the branchiae on the dorsum of
the third segment (fourth, Hessle), three anterior bristled segments coalesced in the form
"Iff a vagina, free anteriorly, fixed posteriorly, partly ensheathing the month and the
sides of the branchiae. The fourth setigerous segment .(sixth of body) has dorsally a free
membranous edge regularly denticulated. The lateral borders of the first five segments
elevated (Hessle);,; Eighteen fascicles df bristlesfeimmencing on the fifth segment, the
three anterior sunk in the tissues, the following fifteen having snbcylindrical setigerous
processes. Bristles with slightly curved and winged tips. Feet with rudimentary cirri.
. The second, third, fifth and sixth segments have simple bristles ventrally. The anterior
feet have dorsally no cirri, whereas the posterior have rudimentary cirri. Uncinigerous
processes commence on the seventh segment and continue to -the posterior end. Hooks
subtriangular with few teeth (four) and in a single row. Minute subconical papillae
bearing capillary bristles above the uncinigerons pinnae posteriorly.
Stomach without a diverticulum. Four pairs of long, tubular -nephridia in segments
5__8. Diaphragm between the third and fourth segments with muscular sacs. Ventral
glands. Branchial vessels arise from the heart by two ramified branches. Tube composed
of mud lined by tough secretion.
1. Melinna cbistata, Sa/rs, 1851. Plate CXVIII, fig. 9—body; Plate CXXV, figs. 1
1 c—bristle and hooks.
Specific Characters.—Head a short, bluntly rounded process, but in extrusion of the
tentacles a flattened lamella. An eye-speck on each side. Body long (50 mm., Hessle),
somewhat clavate, tapering to thé Slender tail with a terminal anus, which has two lateral
flaps and a few short papillae. Branchiae four on each side, arising from a basal process
on the third segment, and each process gives rise to an anterior and a posterior pair.
Dorsal collar with regular conical processes on its edge ten to twenty in number. A
single large curved hook on each side behind the branchi®, with a broad base and a
terminal canal. Eighteen setigerous processes anteriorly, the first ghjee less developed.
Bristles with striated shafts and slightly curved and winged tips, and in a longer and a
shorter series. They commence on the fifth segment (Hessle). Hooks appear on the
fourth bristled segment, have a rounded crown, four teeth on the anterior edge, increasing
in size from the first to the fourth. From fifty to fifty-five lamelto for the hooks in the
posterior region. Nephridia in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth segments. Tube of
seoretion coated with mud, cylindrical, and three times longer than the animal.
Synonyms.
1851.
1856.
1861.
1864.
1865.
Sdbellides cristata, Sars. Nyt Mag., vi, pp. 182 and 206.
)} idem. Fauna Lit. Norweg., vol. ii, p. 19, Tab. ii, figs. 1—7.
f) a» Danielssen. Nyt Mag., xi, p. 55.
- - )} Sars. Forhandl. Vidensk.-selsk. Christ., p. 57.
Melinna . „ Malmgren. Nord. Hafs.-Annul., p. 371, Tab. xx, fig. 50.
Phenacia „ De Quatrefages. Annel., ii, p. 377.