VI. ANNELIDES. 



I. RAPACIA. 



ScoLOPENDRiE MARINE, Jonst. de Inscct. lib. iv. 205. 



SCOLOPENDRES DE MER, Roud. Hist. PoiSS. U. 74. 



Nereides vag^, Pallas, Misc. Zool. 113. 



DoRSiBRANCHES, Cuv. Regn. Anim. iii. 197. 



Anneleides, Leach in Ann. Phil. xiv. 205 (1819). 



Annelides antennees. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. v. 302. 



NoTOBRANCHiA, Ltttreille, Fam. Nat. 238. 



Nereidina, Macleay in Murchison's Silur. Syst. ii. 699 ; and in Ann. 



Nat. Hist. iv. 385. 

 Ann. errantes, And. Sf M.-Edw. Litt. de la France, ii, 2/. 

 Dorsibranchia, Griffith's Cuvier, xiii. 7. 

 Dorsibranchiata, Griffith's Cuv. Syst. Ind. lix. Jones, Anim. 



Kingd. 189 & 212. 

 Annelides errans ou dorsibranches, M.-Edwards, Elem. de 



Zoologie, 222. 

 Annelida errantia, Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. xiv. 32. 

 Annelides nereides, Savigny, Syst. Annel. 7. 

 Marigold, Oersted, Ann. Dan. Consp. 2. 

 Rapacia, Grube, Fam. Annel. 30. 



Char. " Body with soft appendages (cirri, branchiae or antennee), 

 generally disposed over the whole length of the animal, and not 

 collected towards the cephalic extremity. Feet generally very 

 distinct, armed with setse or bristles, which have very rarely the 

 form of hooks. Head generally distinct, and provided with eyes, 

 antennae, and a retractile proboscis, often with jaws." — Milne- 

 Edwards. 



Obs. Organized for locomotion, this tribe of Annelides — the tyrants 

 or the aristocracy of their race — wander abroad, and are in constant 

 warfare with all around them. They crawl on the surface at a pace 

 that varies in the species from extreme slowness to energetic activity. 

 Many of them swim with ease ; and others burrow in the wet sand 

 of the shore. A few construct tubes or cases for their residence, but 

 these are not essential to the existence of the tenant, and can be 

 vacated at pleasure. They are eminently carnivorous, with the ex- 

 ception, perhaps, of the Ariciadse, which may be geodephagous or 

 feeders on putrescent matter. The sexes are separate so far as is 

 known ; and the female is oviparous. The young undergo a certain 

 metamorphosis which tends to higher development of the organs. 



