POLYCH.ETA OF THE L.M.B.C. DISTEICT. 127 



nomenclature I have used a free hand — especially among 

 the Polynoinae, the Syllidae, and the Nereidie where I have 

 followed the example set by Theel, Hansen, and other 

 recent authors in suppressing many of the genera insti- 

 tuted by Malmgi'en and adopted by Professor M'Intosh 

 in his "Challenger" Keport and elsewhere. Lists of 

 synonyms are dispensed with, as such can be found by 

 reference to the Nordiska Hafs-Anmdater and the Annit- 

 lata PolycJueta of Malmgren, and to the memoir on the 

 Polychceta Sedentaria of the Firth of Forth by Cunning- 

 ham and Kamage. The specific nomenclature of these 

 works I follow closely ; the few exceptions being noted. 



To make the present report as far as possible, a com- 

 plete chronicle of the Polychaetous fauna of the district, 

 such species as I have not met w^ith, but which appear in 

 previous lists and are well authenticated, have been 

 inserted. Ke-examination, however, of some of the 

 material described by Mr. E. J. Harvey Gibson in his 

 paper upon the Vermes of the district, {Fauna of Liverpool 

 Bay, vol. L, p. 144) shows that he had fallen into the 

 following errors, viz. : — {a) His " Malmgrenia castanea'' 

 found in the ambulacral groove of Astropecten turns out 

 to be nothing more than the u?,Vid\ Astropecten commensal 

 Acholoe astericola ; (6) his '' Spiochcetopteriis typicus'' is 

 the diagnostic portion of the body of Chcetopterus insignis; 

 [c) his (new British species) '' Iphione mitricata" is in 

 reality the not uncommon Nychia cirrosa from the tube 

 of Chcetop)terus ; {d) his Nereis viridis is one form of N. 

 pelagica ; while (e) the identity of Pectinaria auricoma 

 with P. belgica which he tried to prove, is, as has been 

 shown by Cunningham and Ramage, founded upon over- 

 sights and erroneous premises. There are some other 

 cases where I suspect Mr. Gibson's identification to be at 

 fault, and in this uncertain category I am inclined to place 



