BEQeecdings of 
the United States 
National Museum 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + WASHINGTON, D.C. 
Volume 125 1968 Number 3667 
Benthic Polychaetes from Puget Sound, Washington, 
with Remarks on Four Other Species ' 
By Karl Banse and Katharine D. Hobson? 
We describe here eight new polychaete species, give 25 new records, 
and discuss 35 other forms. Forty-one species (including one unnamed 
species discussed below, and three new species and four new records 
to be published by K. Banse and F. H. Nichols in other papers) are 
added to 394 benthic polychaetes previously known from waters of 
Washington and British Columbia. The new records probably reflect 
incomplete knowledge of the region rather than recent immigration 
into the area. There is no trend toward predominantly arctic or warm 
water additions, as one would expect with new immigration resulting 
from climatic changes. Incomplete knowledge of the polychaete fauna 
of this area is suggested further by the fact that the 41 additions 
mentioned above were among 162 named polychaete species in our 
collection. For comparison, there is no new record among 49 named 
bivalve species of the same collection (Mr. D. Kisker, pers. comm.). 
Polychaetes were identified from 116 samples taken in 1963 at 
eight subtidal stations in Puget Sound by the Department of Ocean- 
ography, University of Washington, under the direction of U. Lie 
1 Contribution No. 470, Department of Oceanography, University of Wash- 
ington, Seattle, Wash. 98105. 
2 Banse: Department of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, 
Wash. 98105; Hobson: Systematics-Ecology Program, Marine Biologica 
Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. 02543. 
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