524 Dr. Johnston's Contributions to the British Fauna. 



but remains still hanging in a perpendicular position, with its 

 suckers at the surface ; or more commonly it bends up the head 

 to the anal extremity, so as to form a kind of circle. We are 

 led to presume, from the structure of the mouth, that the animal 

 is carnivorous. But the most singular part of the structure are 

 the respiratory organs. The suckers I consider as such, as well 

 as the branchiae in front. The situation of the suckers does not 

 seem well calculated for prehension, and their communication 

 with the air vessels may be considered sufficient proof of their 

 function. The difficulty is to determine the course of the air, 

 and for what purpose the animal is so liberally supplied with it. 

 Is it extricated from the water by the proper branchiae, and ex- 

 pelled at the suckers after having circulated through the body; 

 or are both branchiae and suckers absorbent organs, exercising 

 each their operation according to the position of the animal in its 

 tube ? These questions will probably not be solved until we 

 have discovered its affinities, for our actual knowledge of the 

 Annelides is exceedingly imperfect. 



The only modern classification of the Annelides with which I 

 am acquainted is that of Lamarck ; but to none of his orders of 

 families is our animal referable. It will not stand amongst the 

 " ApodeSj^^ for its branchiae are naked, and placed on the anterior 

 part of the body ; and its characters accord still less with those or 

 the two following orders. In the circumstance of its inhabiting a 

 tube open at both ends, it resembles the " Maldanies ;" and it is 

 related to the " Jmphitritees'^ by the position and form of its 

 branchiae, but still the characters in which they differ are so great, 

 as to prove that they stand at wide intervals in the class. Under 

 these circumstances I think myself justified in proposing a new 

 genus for its reception — to which in my note book I had affixed 

 the name Flemenia, in honour of the author of the " Philosophy 

 of Zoology ;" but this I have been induced to change, as the 

 honour will come more appropriately from some naturalist of 

 equal eminence, and not unknown to fame. ^' Gratum est laudari 

 a laudato viro." 



