APHRODITACK^. 97 



Fam. I. APHRODITACE^. 



Aphrodita, Linn. Syst. x. 655; xii. 1084. 



Aphrodite, Pallas, Misc. Zool. 75. Lam. An. s. Vert. v. 304. 



Les Aphrodites, Cuv. Regn. Anim. iii. 206. 



Aphrodite, Savigny, Syst. Annel. 11 & 15. 



Aphroditea, Blainville in Diet, des So. nat. Ivii. 454; Grube, Fam. 



Annel, 34. 

 Aphroditea, Latreille, Fam.. nat. 239. 

 Aphrodisiens, Atid. ^ M.-Edw. Litt. de la France, ii. 68. 

 Aphroditacee, Johnston in Ann. Nat. Hist. ii. 424. Williams in 



Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1851, 200 & 237; Ann. ^- Mag. Nat. Hist. 



ser. 2. xii. 405. Oersted, Annul Dan. Consp. 9 ; Annul. Dorsi- 



branch. 11. 



Char. Body oval, oblong, or linear-elongate, depressed, of a defi- 

 nite number of segments, the back covered with scales in two rows : 

 head distinct, antenniferous, with eyes on the vertex in one or two 

 pairs : proboscis cylindrical, fringed with papillse round the orifice, 

 and armed with four jaws in adjunct pairs : feet well developed, not 

 uniform in structure, for some are furnished with a superior cirrus 

 and usually with branchiae, but have no scales ; while others, usually 

 squamous, are neither branchial nor cirriferous ; and these different 

 kinds of feet alternate, for a definite space, along the sides : branchiae 

 sometimes obsolete, always rudimentary and concealed, in the form 

 of crests or tubercles situated on the upper part of the dorsal branch 

 of the foot above the cirrus. Bristles stout, simple or compound, 

 each fascicle with a spine. 



Obs.* Of the Annelides furnished with a distinct head, there are 

 some which are flattish and of an oval form ; others are slender, 

 cylindraceous and almost filiform. The former constitute the genus 

 Aphrodita of Linnaeus, the latter his Nereis, but these genera em- 

 brace animals too dissimilar to be so closely associated. Bruguiere, 

 who saw this, began the reform and led the way to a more natural 

 classification : he divided the Aphroditce into two groups, to one of 

 which he preserved the Linnsean name, and he called the other Am- 

 phinome. For the time, this was considered a sufficient subdivision ; 

 and Bruguiere was followed implicitly, in the first instance by Cuvier 

 and Lamarck ; but when Savigny, with richer materials and a deeper 

 knowledge of them, had raised the Aphroditce to the rank of a family 

 with its several subordinate genera, his arrangement and nomen- 

 clature were readily adopted by Lamarck, Latreille, and Blainville, 

 and, we may add, are now undisputed. 



The Aphroditacece possess all the characters of the order to which 

 they belong : the head is distinct, they have eyes, antennae, a fleshy 



* Translated, but not literally, from Audouin and Milne-Edwards. 



h 



