84 The hi sh Naturalists April, 



Monograph will be a great boon to all students of the Polychaeta, and 

 one can onh- hope that the intervals between the publication of the 

 forthcoming volumes will be shorter than they have hitherto been. In 

 the " Temporary Preface," Prof. Mcintosh states that the Carnegie Trust 

 made a grant of ;(<,'ioo towards the cost of publication. He also gives us 

 the welcome news that the next volume is ready for the press. 



The absence of an Index, or even a Table of Contents, is to be great!}' 

 deplored. It adds considerably to the labours of those using this Mono- 

 graph. Such aids to progress as Ke5's to the Genera and Species are 

 quite absent. Prof. Mcintosh does not adhere to the system of classifi- 

 cation put forward by Prof. Benham. The Family Aphroditidse of 

 Benham is equivalent to the Aphroditidse, Polynoid^e, Acoetidse, and 

 Sigalionidce of this Monograph. The account of each species is ver}- full' 

 and besides the anatomy, includes notes on its history, development, 

 habits, parasites, and economic uses. The use of the name Lagisca 

 /effrcysii for the new species described in Part II., p. 305, is quite in- 

 defensible, as Prof. Llclutosh had already applied this name in 1876 

 to a species which he now^ regards as identical with Lagisca extenuata 

 (Grube). 



The Polychaeta collected by the various dredging expeditions of the 

 Royal Irish Academy and the Roj^al Dublin Societ}', as well as those col- 

 lected by Prof. Haddou, the late A. G. More, and man}- others, were sent 

 for examination to Prof. Mcintosh, and so this Monograph is of special 

 interest to Irish zoologists. Examined from this point of view, the Mono- 

 graph shows some unsatisfactory features. For instance, in the Dublin 

 Museum there are Irish specimens of Castalia punctata (O. F. I\I ), Eteone 

 picta, Quat., Alystides Lizzies^ McI., Enlalia nebutosa, Mont., and Phyllodoce 

 maculata, Iv-, named by Prof. Mcintosh himself, and yet these species are 

 not recorded as Irish in the volume just issued. The records of Irish 

 Polychaeta are very few, but they have usually been ignored by Prof. 

 Mcintosh. 



The total number of species described is 133, with 6 varieties, and of 

 these 51 species and 3 varieties are recorded from Irish waters. Families 

 such as the Nephthydidie (7 out of 10), and Polynoidae (20 out of 37), 

 which contain large conspicuous forms, are well represented in the Irish 

 records, whilst the P'amily Syllidte (5 out of 33). which is composed of 

 small forms living chiefly between tide-marks, is but poorly represented. 

 Careful shore-collecting is needed to remedy this deficiency. 



The following list includes all the Irish species recorded so far in this 

 Monograph. Those marked with an asterisk have only been found as 

 yet in Irish waters. Some of the localities of the deep-water species are 

 indicated so vaguely that it is impossible to decide whether they come 

 within the Irish area. These are omitted from the list : — 



AMPHINOMIDyE. 



vSpinthcr oniscoides, Johnston. FAiphrosyne armadillo, vSars. 

 JSuphrosync foliosa, Aud. andh)d. 



