438 



RECOED OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Barrois in the armed forms (Enopla) are stated definitely to be also 

 present in the Anopla ; in these latter, or unarmed forms, stinging 

 organs, in the form of rods of very various sizes, are to be found in 

 the proboscis, and their number appears to be very considerable. 

 The fluid contained in the sheath of the proboscis is provided with 

 special corpuscles, "which, in some forms, appeared to be tinged red 

 by haemoglobin. Forty-seven species were examined by the author at 

 Naples, and of these, he says, sixteen are new. 



Revision of the Genera of European Nemerteans.* — In an article 

 of 40 pp. (written in English) Dr. A. A. W. Hubrecht gives the pre- 

 liminary results of his researches into the Nemertini (with descriptions 

 of fifty species he recently found at Naples). It is clear that for an 

 order which is yet so imperfectly known, the large number of forty- 

 eight (European) genera must contain many synonyms. Authors who 

 failed to find well-marked characters by which to distinguish the 

 species of these worms (which, moreover, showed such a protean varia- 

 bility in their external appearance), highly overvalued any small 

 structural difference which happened to be common to two or more 

 species, and immediately founded a generic distinction on so insufficient 

 a basis. The short and incomplete description of many of the genera 

 was fui'ther one of the causes which led to unnecessary multiplication 

 of their number, whereas the fact that in many cases no account what- 

 ever was taken of the internal anatomical characters when estabKshing 

 a new genus, gave rise to considerable confusion which it will be 

 difficult to get rid of. 



The author proposes therefore to reduce the forty-eight genera to 

 the fourteen named in the subjoined tables, the first of which is 

 intended to show at a glance the general conclusions which the author 

 has come to respecting the degrees of affinity between the different 

 genera, and the latter, he thinks, wiU be useful for determining the 

 genus of a given specimen. 



Sub-Ordo. Palsionemeetini. 



Cephalotrix. 



Valencinia, 



Carinella. 



/ \ 



Polia. 



Borlasia. — Lineus. — Cerebratulus. 



I 



Langia. 



Sub-Ordo. ScmzoNEMEKTiNi. 



Ampbiporus — Drepanopborus. 



Oerstedia 



Tctrasteinma. 

 Prosorbocbmus. 



Nemertes. 



Sub-Ordo. Hoplonemertini. 

 * 'Notes from E. Zool. Mus. of Netbcrlauds,' i. (1879) p. 193. 



