Proceedings of 
the United States 
National Museum 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + WASHINGTON, D.C. 
Volume 125 1968 Number 3664 
Moore on the Hirudinea 
with Emphasis on His 'Type-Specimens 
By Marvin C. Meyer? 
Visiting Research Associate, Division of Worms 
The late John Percy Moore, during his 70 years of scientific activity 
(1893-1963), published more than 100 papers, almost exclusively on 
the Annelida. In the 62 publications dealing with the Hirudinea, 3 of 
which were coauthored (Moore and Meyer, 1951; Meyer and Moore, 
1954, 1955), 11 new genera, 78 new species, 9 new subspecies, 1 new 
variety, and 3 new generic names were proposed. Of the aforemen- 
tioned, 1 new species and 2 new generic names were coauthored. 
Moore’s publications on the Hirudinea began in 1898, with a paper 
on the leeches of the U.S. National Museum. In that paper and those 
which followed in close succession, he showed those qualities of ac- 
curate observation, penetrating analysis, careful description, scholarly 
thoroughness, and readable style that characterized his research and 
publications on leeches for considerably more than half a century. 
The wide geographical range of the source of his research leeches is 
impressive. A somewhat abridged listing includes every section of the 
continental United States and its coasts, Canada, Alaska and the 
Bering Sea area, Siberia, Greenland, Mexico, Central America, Chile, 
Patagonia, [British] Guiana, Puerto Rico, Hawaiian Islands, Fiji 
Islands, Assumption Islands, New Hebrides, Dalmatia, New Guinea, 
Arctic and Antarctic Seas, Palestine, Morocco, Central and East 
* Department of Zoology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04473. 
