Section I. 



Literature and survey of the northern Ceriantharia. 



The first species of Ceriantharia from northern waters was described by Gosse (1856) as Ed- 

 wardsia vestita. Two years later (1858) he identified this form with Cerianthus membranaceus, a mis- 

 take which he rectified in 1859 when the species received the name it has since retained, Cerianthus 

 lloydii. A. summary of the exterior and life-conditions of the species was given by Gosse (1860). 

 After being observed on the coasts of Great Britain, it was met with in 1861 by M. Sars on the 

 Norwegian coast. Danielssen however in Fauna littoralis Norvegiae 1871 expresses the opinion that 

 the form met with by Sars and afterwards by himself is a new species, which he calls Cerianthus 

 borealis, a name which Verrill however had used (1873) for a species described by himself from North 

 America. Carlgren (1893) shews that it had already been observed by S. I^oven (1839) on the 

 west coast of Sweden. Hartlaub (1894) found it at Heligoland. 



More or less detailed accounts of this species have been given by Carlgren (1893), v. Beneden 

 (1898) and by Danielssen as early as 1888, though the last-named has referred it to C. borealis. 

 Danielssen's account moreover is written in so peculiar a style and varies so much from all other 

 accounts of the Cerianthidae, that one would be inclined to deny the identification of his C. borealis 

 with C. lloydii, were not Danielssen's accounts of the Actiniae, as Me Murrich (1893 p. 133) says, 

 "beautiful examples of how not to do it". According to my investigations however the two forms are 

 one and the same species, as Andres (1883) had already conjectured. 



A small Cerianthid Ccrianthtis vermicularis Forbes from the Sound is described by Lutken 

 (1860). Andres (1883) has given this species the name of Cerianthus lutkeni. Without doubt this is 

 a young Cerianthid and probably nothing but a young Cerianthus lloydii. It is uncertain however 

 whether Cerianthus vermicularis (Forbes in Johnston) is so also (Compare Andres 1883 p. 561). 



New Cerianthidae are described by Danielssen (1890) from the Norwegian North-Atlantic Ex- 

 pedition under the names of Cerianthus vogti and abyssorum. But the descriptions are so incomplete 

 that the classification of the species cannot be made out As I understand them the two species are 

 identical and fall under the genus Cerianthus. The systematic position also of the species described 

 by Roule (1905), Cerianthus lloydii and danielsseni, the former of which to judge from the coloured 

 drawing is not Cerianthus lloydii but probably a new species, cannot be determined. Although the 

 description of the former is so incomplete, it might still be convenient to give it a special name Ce- 

 rianthus roulci. 



