[CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES 1905 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, No. XXX.] 



REPORT 



ON THE 



POLYCH^ETA 



COLLECTED BY 



Professor HERDMAN, at CEYLON, in 1902. 



BY 



ARTHUR WILLEY, F.R.S., 



DIRECTOR OF THE COLOMBO MUSEUM.* 



[With EIC4HT PLATES.] 



Thts collection of Polychseta is the most extensive which has been brought together 

 from the coast of Ceylon. There are only three older collections of any magnitude 

 from Ceylon upon which reports have been published, namely, that of Schmarda, 

 worked out by the traveller himself and published in 1861 (' Neue Wirbellose 

 Thiere'); a small series gathered by Mr. Holdsworth and described by Grube in 

 1874 ('P. Zool. Soc, London'); lastly, another small series collected by Dr. Hans 

 Driesch and described by Michaelsen in 1892 ('J. B. Hamb. Anst.,' ix. 2). Of 

 these older collections the most important was the Schmarda collection, which 

 included the discovery of the remarkable genera Gastrolepidia and Bhawania, the 

 latter not being represented in Professor Herdman's collection. 



The material was handed over to me at Professor Herdman's suggestion by 

 Mr. James Hornell in September, 1904. A further consignment which had been 



* Editorial Note. In order to save delay, I have, with Dr. Willey's consent, undertaken to see 

 this Report through the press without sending proofs to Ceylon. I have to thank Mr. Arnold Watson 

 and Mr. Cyril Crossland, both of whom are familiar with the group, for their kindness in reading the 

 proofs along with me. The only change of any importance we have had to make is the name of the new 

 genus on p. 251. Dr. Willey had proposed Hulolepulia, but we regarded this as being practically the same 

 as Moore's name Hololepida ('Proc. Acad. N.S. Philad.,' 1905) applied to an allied but distinct Polychaite, 

 so we altered the title of Willey's genus to Ilolulqndella. W. A. Herdman. 



2 I 2 



