360 Prof. E. Claparede on the Structure of the Annelida. 



is very distinct from that of the ocean ; but several species ap- 

 pear to be positively common to the two seas. M. de Quatre- 

 fages, moreover, is perpetually untrue to his own theory ; we 

 find him uniting even very distinct species, one belonging to 

 the Mediterranean and the other to the Atlantic or even to the 

 Arctic seas *. 



Faunistic works alone will throw any real light upon the 

 geographical distribution of the Annelida. It is therefore to be 

 desii-ed that we may witness the multiplication of such investi- 

 gations as those of M. Malmgren f upon the Annelida Poly- 

 chseta of Spitzbergen, Greenland, Iceland, and Scandinavia. 

 It is undoubtedly the best work of its kind that we possess. 

 It has the advantage, in most cases, of being enriched with bathy- 

 metrical data. The absence of particulars of this nature is a de- 

 fect in most memoirs on Annelida. It is especially a gap which 

 I regret I am unable to fill up in this fauna of the Bay of Naples. 

 M. Malmgren seems to lead us to hope for the early publica- 

 tion of a work on the Annelida dredged off the coasts of Spitz- 

 bergen at a depth of 1400 fathoms [famnar) by M. Carl Chy- 

 denius. An accurate knowledge of Annelida living under such 

 conditions would be of great scientific interest. 



Classification. 

 It is gratifying to see that we are every day approaching 

 moi'e and more towards a natural classification of the An- 

 nelida. The families now established are for the most part 

 well founded. The discovery of types so new as to necessitate 

 the formation of new families becomes rarer every day. For my 

 part I shall propose no new family name. I know that on this 

 point there is a difference of opinion among naturalists. MM. 

 Kinberg and Malmgren have recently considerably increased 

 the number of families. But this augmentation is only apparent. 

 Certain very natural families of Savigny's have been divided into 

 several by M. Kinberg ; but that naturalist has been careful to 

 preserve Savigny's sections as divisions of a higher rank, under 

 the name of orders. This is a slight displacement of the terms 

 of the taxonomic hierarchy, the importance of which is not very 

 great. For my own part I take, to a certain extent, the same 

 view as M. Kinberg; but I regard as tribes what he calls fami- 



* Thus he unites Polynoe maculata (Grube) and P . fasciculosa (Gr.) of 

 the Mediterranean with P. cirrata (Fab.) from Greenland, Amphis tu- 

 bicola (Gr.) of the Mediterranean with Nereis tubicola (O. F. Miill.) from 

 the coast of Denmark, Lysidice Valentina (Sav.) of the Mediterranean 

 with L. rufa (Gosse) of the British coasts, Nereis cultrifera (Gr.) of the 

 Mediterranean with N. bilineata (Johnst.), &c. &c. 



t " Nordiske Hafs-Aunulater," in CEfvers. af K. Vct.-Akad. Forhandl. 

 1865, Nos. 1, 2 & 5; 'Annulata Polychaeta Spetsbergife, Groenlandiae, 

 Islandiae et Scandinavije hactenus cognitae,' Helsuigfors, 186/". 



