ANNELIDS OF THE TRIBES SABELLIDES 

 AND SERPULIDES. 



SYSTEMATIC DISCUSSION. 

 Tribe SABELLIDES. 



Family SABELLDXE. 



Attempts have been made by several authors to arrange the many 

 and varied forms belonging to this group in analytical tables conven- 

 ient for interpretation. 



Grube (1851) placed them all in Sabella, dividing and subdividing 

 the genus according to the form of the branchial lobes. Kroyer (1856) 

 separated the northern forms into various known genera, proposing 

 the name Bispira for those having the branchial lobes equal and 

 coiled spirally : " Foruden disse fzem Grupper mener jeg, at de Sabel- 

 ler, hos hvilke begge Gjasllebuskene danne Spiraler, m udgjore en 

 sjaette Slaegt, hvilken man maske kunde Kaldc Bispira"* He also 

 described many new species which he referred to the genus Sabella. 

 As no definite species was mentioned as type, and also as many of the 

 species referred by him and others to the genus Sabella have been 

 found to have their branchial lobes spiral or involute in retraction, it is 



1 This name Bis fir a, suggested by Kroyer (1856 nomen nudum], without 

 adequate description or reference to any species, as cited above, was first used by 

 Claparede (1870) for Bispira -volutacornis (Rathke, 1843), supposing this to be 

 the same as Amphitrite volutacornis Montagu (1804) given by Quatrefages (1865) 

 as the first species under his genus Distylia, ignoring the fact that Kroyer had 

 called attention to their being distinct. Saint-Joseph ( 1894), notwithstanding he 

 mentions these facts, combines the two genera, making volutacornis Montagu 

 the type of the genus Bispira, eliminating the volutacornis Rathke as it is 

 synonymous with the rubropunctata Grube and referable to the genus Jasmineira 

 Langerhans (1880), type,/, caudata Langerhans. Other authors Langerhans 

 (1880), Lo Bianco (1893), and Johnson (1901) have added to the confusion by 

 applying Bispira to still other forms, which should be referred to as many dis- 

 tinct genera. It is therefore deemed desirable to restore Distylia for the volu- 

 tacornis Montagu, and if Bispira is to be considered, it apparently should be 

 studied in connection with its relation to Jasmineira. 



(183) 



