10 Catalogue of Chaetopoda 



classes, Mollusques (p. 372) and Vers (p. 624), are defined and 

 described in some detail, and the " Vers " arranged thus : 



A. Vers pourvus d'epines ou de soies pour s'aider dans leur mouvemens : 



Les Aphrodites. Les Serpules. Les Nereides. 



Les Amphinomes. L'Arrosoir. 1 Les Naiades. 



Les Amphitrites. Les Dentales. Les Lombrics. 



La Furie. c 



B. Vers depourvus d'epines et de soies : 



Les Sangsues. Les Planaires. Les Vers intestins. 



A comparison of this Table with that of Linnaeus published 

 thirty years previously demonstrates the great advance made in the 

 classification of worms. While much of the credit for this is 

 undoubtedly due to Cuvier, it is also clear that the observations of 

 Pallas and Mullet- were important contributing factors; it will be 

 observed that Serpula is placed near Aphrodita, as recommended by 

 Pallas, and that Cuvier, following Miiller, used the presence of 

 chaetae as a distinguishing character for one of his subdivisions. The 

 Table presents two defects, namely, the inclusion of Les Dentales 

 \Dentaliwii\ and of L'Arrosoir \Brecliitcs or Aspcrgillum], but it 

 should be remembered that only the shell of the latter was then 

 known, and that both these are strikingly different in appearance 

 from most Mollusca, the former in particular presenting such a 

 combination of characters that it was not until Lacaze Duthiers 

 (1857) had carefully investigated its anatomy that its systematic 

 position could be safely defined, and then it was found necessary to 

 establish a separate class to receive it. 



In his " Leons d'Anatomie Comparee," published two years later, 

 Cuvier separated worms into two series, according as they possess or 

 lack external organs of respiration. 3 This mode of classification was 

 adopted by Lamarck in his " Systeuie des Animaux sans Vertebres " 



1 This was first referred to the genus Serpula (S. penis) by Linnaeus; it was 

 retained in this genus by Cuvier (Regne Animal, p. 522) and others. 



2 A genus established by Linnaeus for a creature named Furia infernalis L., 

 said to be found in Eastern Sweden, and described as having a linear, filiform 

 body, provided on each side with a row of pointed hairs. This animal, on 

 coming in contact with mammals or the naked skin of man, was stated to enter 

 the flesh, causing death if treatment were not immediately available. As Bosc 

 remarked (Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Paris, An xi [1803], ix, p. 144), it was 

 probably a creature of the imagination, and it is doubtful whether the dried 

 specimen of an animal shown to Linnaeus, by an inhabitant of the country, had 

 any connection with the attacks described. At any rate, Furia could not have 

 been a Chaetopod ; it may have been a dipterous larva, some of which produce 

 severe myiasis. 



3 See Table at end of Tome i (1805). 



