P. capitulo, valvarum duobus aut pluribus sub-rostro verticillis instructo: valvis albis, aut glaucis: pedunculo, squamarum densis verticillis symmetricè dispositis.

Capitulum with two or more whorls of valves under the rostrum; valves white or gray; scales on the peduncle symmetrically arranged in close whorls.

Maxillæ with three tufts of fine bristles, separated by larger spines: segments in the first cirrus less than half the number of those in the sixth cirrus: caudal appendages multi-articulate: filamentary appendages attached to the prosoma.

Coast of Portugal; mouth of the Tagus. England,[64] Ireland, and the Frith of Forth in Scotland. Mediterranean (according to Brugière): Teneriffe: Mogador, Africa.

[64] This species is said by Montagu (‘Test. Brit. Supplement’) to have been found attached to drift timber in the Frith of Forth, and to the bottom of a wrecked vessel towed into Dartmouth. According to Mr. W. Thompson (‘Annals of Nat. Hist.’ vol. xiii, p. 436), it has been found attached to wood-work near Dublin.

Capitulum, obtusely triangular, massive: valves close together, rather thick, with their exterior surfaces convex, naked, except in the lower parts, where united together by tough, greenish-brown membrane, destitute of spines. The edges of the orifice are widely bordered by membrane, coloured fine crimson red. The valves, in a specimen with a capitulum above three quarters of an inch long, were 52 in number; in a specimen one fifth of an inch long, only between 20 and 30. Two whorls of valves are distinct beneath the carina and rostrum. In one specimen in Mr. Cuming’s collection, with a capitulum 1.4 of an inch long, there were three whorls beneath the rostrum, and four beneath the carina. The scuta, terga, and carina are much larger than the other valves.

Scuta, oval, the basal and tergo-lateral margins sweeping into each other, and the apex pointed; internally ([Pl. VII], [fig. 1 a]) the pit for the adductor muscle is deep.

Terga, larger than the scuta, internally ([fig. 1 a]) slightly concave; carinal margin much curved and protuberant; basal angle blunt; scutal margin either curved with the upper part straight, or formed of two almost distinct lines, corresponding with the tergal margin of the scutum, and with one of the sides of the upper latus.

Carina, much curved, extending far up between the terga, internally deeply concave, widening much from the top to the bottom; basal margin highly protuberant, with a central portion either truncated and very slightly hollowed out, or bluntly and rectangularly pointed, with the apex itself rounded.

Rostrum, not one third of the length of the carina, concave, triangular, with the basal margin slightly protuberant. Of the other valves, including the sub-carina and sub-rostrum, the shape of their inner surfaces is sub-triangular, with the basal margin convex; externally the umbones are pointed, and slightly curled inwards, so as to overlap each other like tiles: the smaller valves, however, of the lower whorls ([fig. 1 a]) are more or less transversely elongated, so as to become almost elliptic instead of triangular. Of the latera, the upper pair, which corresponds to the interspace between the scuta and terga, is the largest, but barely exceeds in size the pair answering to the carinal latera in Scalpellum, which lie between the terga and carina: the next largest pair is the rostral, or that between the scuta and rostrum. Some, however, of the lower latera are of nearly equal size.