A, E. Verrill — Marine Nemerteans of New England, etc. 383 



large part of the vast collection of American Nemerteans preserved 

 in the Museum of Yale University, and including those collected 

 by myself and others during the explorations carried on from 1871 

 to 1887 by the United States Fish Commission, under the direction 

 of the late Commissioner, Professor S. F. Baird. 



These collections include several thousands of specimens, filling 

 more than a thousand bottles and jars. They represent very fully 

 the Nemertean and Planarian fauna of the coast, from Cape Hatteras 

 to Labrador, and from high-water mark to 2000 fathoms. Fortun- 

 ately I personally identified and labelled when captured a large 

 number of those specimens that belonged to described species, and 

 made copious descriptions and sketches of most of the unfamiliar 

 forms that came, while still living, under my observation diiring 

 all the sixteen seasons spent on the work of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, as well as during several summers (1864 to 1870) spent in 

 independent researches in the waters of the Bay of Fundy and 

 elsewhere. But there were many specimens, especially deep-water 

 forms, that I did not see until they had been placed in alcohol. 

 Most of those are entirely omitted from this paper. Probably they 

 include a number of additional species. 



Many of the general figures accompanying this article were made 

 from life by Mr. J. H. Emerton and Mr. J. H. Blake, under my 

 direction, for the U. S. Fish Commission. For the privilege of 

 using these drawings for the present purpose, I am indebted to the 

 late commissioner, Professor Baird, this article having been in pre- 

 paration before his death. Other figures have been drawn by 

 myself for this paper. Numerous figures, taken from my own field- 

 notes and rough sketches, have been copied and put into shape by 

 my son, A. H. Verrill, under my personal supervision. The latter 

 are, therefore, quite as reliable as the former ones. A few anatomi- 

 cal figures (on PI. xxxix) have been copied from the works of 

 Mcintosh* and Hubrecht,f in order to illustrate more fully some of 

 the differences between the orders and sub-orders of Nemerteans. 



It was originally a part of my intention to have included numer- 

 ous anatomical details of our native species, based on new prepara- 

 tions and studies, but various circumstances have compelled me to 

 defer that portion of the subject to a future time. Such details are, 

 however, less essential in the case of our Nemerteans than they 



* A Monograph of the British Annelids. Part I. The Nemerteans. Ray Society, 

 1873. 



f Voyage of the Challenger, vol. xix. 



