main branches, these again sub-dividing more or less dichotomously into a series of
terminal filaments. The first is the largest, though all form conspicuous tufts. In life
they keep up a constant movement like masses of worms (De St. Joseph).
The anterior region has seventeen pairs of bristle-bundles which arise from vertically
elongated lamellae, the first being opposite the last branchia. A large papilla takes the
place of these opposite the second branchia, and a smaller papilla occupies the space
between the hook-row and the setigerous process in the following eight segments. The
sixteen hook-rows of the region have a glandular belt in front and behind, and the
majority show a dimpled or interrupted hook-line, as if cut into sections.
The longer bristles have straight shafts and well-developed wings, a slight curvature
marking the tip, which, moreover, shows a dilatation of the shaft or axis just after the
commencement of the wings. Then the wings cease, and a translucent, flattened,
serrated, tapering blade forms the extreme tip (Plate CXXV a, figs. 10 and 10 a). The
shorter bristles have the same character, but the terminal blade beyond the wings is
broader at the base (projecting more distinctly in lateral view, like a knife-blade).1
The anterior hooks (Plate CXXV a, fig. 10 b) are characterised by the great length
of the base, and by its marked curvature from the posterior ligament to the prow.
The posterior outline presents a slight convexity superiorly and a slight concavity above
the ligament. Bold striae occur on the upper and posterior part of the neck. The
main fang is large, and five or six teeth appear above it in lateral view. The gulf
under the main fang is large, curving to the process for the ligament, and again slightly
hollowed as it passes below it to the prow. In the first six segments the hooks are
in a single row, but in the following ten they are in a double row facing each other. —
The posterior hooks differ in the shorter and broader basal region, the increase in
the posterior outline, and the diminution of the anterior curves on each side of the
process for the ligament.
This appears to be the Terebella gigantea of Col. Montagu (1818), for the
discrepancies are readily explainable. He rightly gives seventeen pairs of bristles,
and his capillary appendages are the tentacles, 5 or 6 inches in length, and the three
pairs of branchiae are much ramified. By the first eight joints, which have a broad
plate on the back, he evidently means the ventral scutes. He gives its length as
16 inches, and states that it is the longest of the species (British): “ It inhabits the
soil at the bottom of the sea, and seems to be destitute of any case. We found one
specimen in the estuary of Kingsbridge at low water; it discharged an orange-coloured
fluid from its mouth in great abundance.” 2 His figure for the most part represents
the ventral surface and is incomplete posteriorly. It has been supposed that the
Terebella constrictor of this author is the same species, but an examination shows that
it is not.
This species was also described and figured by De Quatrefages (1865), under the
title of T&rebeUa JEJdwardsi. The French author considered it the giant of the race on
the shores of France.
1 In De St. Joseph’s figure the serrations are at right angles to the axis, and the dilatation of
the shaft and other points diverge somewhat from nature.
3 c Trans. Linn. Soc.,’ vol. xii, p. 342.
An extended and careful account was given by De St. Joseph (1894), and he entered
into various structural features.
5. Amphitrite figulus, Daly ell, 1853. Plate CXIII a, fig. 1—body ; Plate CXXV,
figs. 10 and 10 a—bristles; Plate CXXV a, figs. 1 and 1 a-^bristle with double
expansion and hook.
Specific Characters.—Median dorsal collar of the cephalic fold narrow, but the oral
arch and the lateral folds are larger than in A. cirrata. Tentacles with a red streak.
The body is 6 to 8 inches long, enlarged in front, tapered posteriorly and ends in
an anus. Segments ninety to one hundred, and of these twenty-four bear bristles commencing
at the last (third) branchia. Dorsal surface anteriorly in the preparations somewhat
tessellated. Each segment anteriorly shows dorsally two rings, which by-and-by
have transverse furrows. Then as the space between the bristles increases a larger number
of rings are present, whilst posteriorly the narrow transverse furrows show less regularity.
Ventral scutes fifteen. Various shades of flesh colour, some of the larger being brownish,
other pinkish, and marked by the orange intestine posteriorly. Nephridia from the
third to the ninth segment (Hessle).
Branchiæ three on each side on segments 2,3 and 4, the first the largest, each having
a cylindrical stem which soon divides dichotomously, the terminal branches long and
tapering, colour dull red. A small conical papilla at the second branchia marks the
commencement of the setigerous processes, though it has no bristles. Bristles of two
kinds, a longer and shorter series, the shafts of thé former long, straight, slightly
diminished upward to the winged tip, which is finely tapered. Shorter series with an
accessory terminal blade carried at an angle to the region beneath it, and tapered to
a slender, slightly curved tip. The rows of hooks commence at the second bristle-tuft,
and continue to the posterior end. The third ridge bears the first double row of hooks.
These differ from those of A. cvrrata in the less oblique base and in the curves of the
anterior outline below the great fang; four teeth occur above the latter in profile. Tube
either earthy and friable, or of fragments of shells, minute stones and sandy mud lined
by secretion.
Synonyms.
1808. Amphiro constrictor, Montagu. MS. vol. Linn. Soc., pi. xxxv, fig. 3.
1843-53. Terebella constrictor, Chenu. Illust. Conch., llelivr., p. 266, pi. xxiv, fig. 1.
1853. Amphitmte bi'unnea, Stimpson. Fauna Grand Manan, p. 31.
,y Terebella figulus, Dalyell. Pow. Créât., vol. ii, p. 191, pi. xxvii, figs. 1 and 2.
1865 ?. ,, nebulosa, Johnston. Cat. Worms. Brit. Mus., pp. 237 and 345 (partim ?).
,, Amphitrite Johnstoni, Malmgren. Nord. Hafs.-Annul., p. 377, Tab. xxi, fig. 51.
1867. „ „ idem. Annul. Polych., p. 107.
1869. „ „ Grube. St. Vaast., p. 38.
,, Terebella figulus, McIntosh. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxv, p. 423.
1870 ?. Amphitrite nana, Claparède. Suppl. Annél. Nap., p. 129, pi. xiii, fig. 6.
1873. „ Johnstoni, Möbius. Exped. Ostsee Comm, deutsch., p. 109.
1874. „ figulus, McIntosh. Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. xiv, p. 204.
,, „ Johnstoni, Malm. Göteborg Fauna, p. 96. .
„ y, brunnea,Verrill. Check List, p. 10 (U.S. Com. F. and F.-). '