350 LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGY COMMITTEE REPORT. 



described under the synonym of Amphitrite auricoma by 

 0. F. Miiller, in his " Zoologica Danica," in 1788. Pennant, 

 in his *' British Zoology," describes Amphitrite auricomay 

 and mentions, as a synonym, Nereis cylindraria of Pallas, 

 that is to say, the variety belgica above mentioned. Dalyell, 

 in his *' Powers of the Creator," describes Amphitrite 

 auricoma f but calls it Sabella helgica. Glaus, in his " Traite 

 de Zoologie," acknowledges both P. auricoma of Muller, and 

 P. belgica of Pallas. Gosse acknowledges P. belgica only 

 {" Marine Biology "). Similarly, P. auricoma is omitted from 

 the List of British Marine Invertebrata, drawn up by a 

 Committee of the British Association, in 1861, and from 

 Forbes's paper in Brit. Assoc. Keport, 1850. Mcintosh 

 (Ency. Brit., art. "Annelides") figures P. belgica of Pallas, 

 after Malmgren. Finally, Mobius (" Zoologische Ergebnisse ") 

 acknowledges both P. auricoma of Miiller and P. belgica of 

 Pallas. Apparently, two distinct species are first of all 

 figured and described by Pallas and Muller respectively, 

 Pallas having the precedence in time ; Pennant, Dalyell, 

 and others mix up the two species together ; more recent 

 authorities omit either one or other, consider them as one 

 species, or acknowledge them to be distinct. It seems 

 worth while to compare Pallas's and Miiller's accounts, in 

 order to determine whether there are points of distinction 

 between them of sufficient importance to justify their being 

 separated from each other. 



Miiller (loc, cit.) gives as the specific characters of his 

 Amphitrite auricoma the presence of two cirri on either side 

 of the head, and two rigid yellow fans in front. On examin- 

 ing Pallas's drawings of P. belgica, his Nereis cylindraria, 

 var. belgica {loc. cit.), the pair of cirri are found to be 

 present on either side of the head, just as Miiller describes 

 them in P. auricoma ; but his figure of the stiff golden comb 

 shews one continuous and uniform series of teeth, not two 



