The Occurrence of the Archiannelid, Protodrilus, on the South Coast of England

Abstract

THE discovery of the presence of the Archiannelid, Protodrilus, on the English coast is an interesting fact inasmuch as it extends the known domain of a genus of an archaic group of animals, and also adds a valuable animal to our records. So far as is known Protodrilus appears to inhabit only the European seas,¹ having been taken in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, at Heligoland in the North Sea, and at Ambleteuse, on the French side of the Straits of Dover. Protodrilus was found on March 2 in a small bay just outside and to the east of Plymouth Sound. On March 11 the spot was again visited, and a large number of specimens, more than a hundred, gathered in about an hour. The animals were found almost at the high-water mark among stones and gravel at a point where a small stream of fresh water runs into the sea.