688 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Oct., 



Nemertina, and (3) those ]-cforring it to the Annelida, or to some 

 position intermediate between the annelids and the rotifers. The older 

 writers, with the exception of van Beneden, referred the genus to the 

 Turbellaria, on account of its obvious external resemblances to that 

 group. Among these authors may be mentioned Schmidt (1848) (who, 

 however, later changed his opinion), Max Schultze (1849), Diesing 

 (1874), Mereschkowsky (1879), Korschelt, in his first paper on Dino- 

 philus (1882), and Weldon (1886). 



In 1861 van Beneden described a species from the coast at Ostende, 

 and referred the genus to the nemerteans, principally, it would seem, 

 on account of the character afforded in the possession of a proboscis. 

 Of recent writers who have inchned to this opinion we have only 

 Verrill (1895), who, however, does not enter into a discussion of the 

 relationships of the group, but only provisionally refers it to the 

 nemerteans. 



The first to place Dinophilus among the annelids was Schmarda 

 (1861), who described a species from the coast of South America, and 

 assigned it to a place in the Oligochsete family of the Naidse, next to 

 the primitive genus jElosoma. The claims of Dinophilus to a place 

 among the annelids have, however, been based chiefly on its remark- 

 able resemblance to certain annelid larvse, especially those of the poly- 

 trochal type. The first to call attention to this fact was Metschnikoff 

 (1866), who in his paper on Apsilus wrote concerning the systematic 

 position of Dinophilus: "Dass Dinophilus als eine stationare Anneliden- 

 larva zu betracten ist, und mithin zu der Anneliden ebcnso wie Appen- 

 dicularia zu den Ascidien sich verhalt." He also notices some resem- 

 blances to certain rotifers. As a curious parallel to this view may be 

 cited Oscar Schmidt's (1882) comparison of the position of Dinophilus 

 among the annelids to that of Axolotl among the true salamanders. 



Graff (1882), in his fine monograph on the Turbellaria, removes 

 Dinophilus from the Turbellaria, and considers it as more properly 

 belonging near the Annelida. 



Lang (1884) places Dinophilus in the line which leads through the 

 Archiannelida to the rotifers. Harmer (1889) also regards Dinophilus 

 as nearly related to the Archiannelida; Rcpiachoff (1SS6) considers it 

 a true annelid, as does Korschelt (1893); while of the most recent 

 writers Schimkewitsch (1895) considers Dinophilus as affording char- 

 acters which relate it to both the rotifers and annelids. 



These various views have been based almost entirely on anatomi- 

 cal evidence, since but three papers deal with the embryology, viz.: 

 Korschelt (1882), Repiachoff (1886) and Schmike^vdtsch (1895). 



