A contribution towards our knowledge of the Polychaeta of South Africa

2. Nereidae 1). Nereis (Platynereis) striata (Schm.). (Mastigonereis striata Schm.). Of this species several specimens were collected in Table bay, where they were found for the first time by Schmarda 2) and afterwards met with by Willey 3). Unfortunately the description of the species is rather short and incomplete and the synonimy somewhat dubious; therefore I think it not superfluous to give a detailed account of them, especially while an epitocous male was among them. The specimens are rather small, measuring about 30 mm. in length, whereas the number of segments amounts to 70. The specimens of Schmarda and of Willey were somewhat larger, measuring 50 mm. in length, with about 80 segments. Nereis striata is characterized by a conspicuous coloration, consisting of a narrow, transverse, black band (dark violet in the living worm), which laterally becomes broader and acquires the shape of a brace, over the dorsal side of each segment; moreover there occurs a double black patch at the base of the dorsal cirri and an other one near the ventral cirri, whereas an interrupted black line runs in the median ventral line. Armature of the proboscis: maxillary region, I absent; II a narrow, semilunar patch of paragnathi; IV a semilunar group, consisting of five rows of densely crowded paragnathi; III three transverse groups, consisting of two or three separate rows of paragnathi; basal region: V absent; VI a small distiohous patch; VII and VIII five, transverse, distichous or tristichous acervuli. In some specimens group II of the maxillary region is absent or only faintly developed. In the anterior body-regio