_ 236 CRETACEOUS GASTROPODA 
It is hardly necessary to repeat the complaints, which are made by every natur- 
alist, when determining shells belonging to the family of the Vzruzrrpz, as dis- 
tinguished from those of the Annelide Szzpuzip2. Moérch,* who studied the former 
family in all its accessible specialities, says (Proceed. 1. c. 1861, p. 145,) that the 
shells of the Vzruxrrp# are at once to be distinguished from those of the “ Serpule 
by the presence of a spiral, nuclear shell and of concave smooth interior septa ;” and 
further on, p. 146, ‘the ak ‘pulide appear only to be composed of two layers, the 
Vuruetipe having three,’ 
These distinguishing characters may bs appropriately used, when the shells 
are perfectly preserved, which is unfortunately not always the case with fossils; 
still they are for us more important than all the others, which relate to the animal, 
the operculum and the form of the aperture. It is a matter of course, that the 
different forms of the living Veruerrp# must in general assist us in determining 
the fossil remains of the same group. 
With regard to their classification in the system of Mollusca there exists a great 
controversy between conchologists, as may be seen from a reference to the treatises 
in H. and A. Adams’ ‘ Genera ;’ Chenu’s ‘ Manual;’ Gray’s ‘ Guide, 1857 ;’ Pictet’s 
Traité de Pal., and Pal. Suisse, 3me. Ser.; Deshayes’ Anim. s. vert., basin de Paris, 
Qme. Edit., 2me. Vol.; and others. Gray forms in his sub-order RostriFERA a separate 
higher division under the name of Prrotopopa, and divides the family Vzruarrpz 
into two sub-families, rerwazrmz and szzrquarin%. Deshayes proposes in the sub- 
order TUBULIBRANCHIATA of Cuvier only one family, Tvzzsprrara, with four genera, 
Vermetus, Serpulorbis, Siliquaria, and Cecum. H. and A. Adams unite also 
Siliquaria (Tenagodus) with the Verurrips, while Chenu separates these two. 
Such separation in Cacrpm, Verueripm and Siziqvarimp# seems according to our 
present knowledge of the respective animals and shells, absolutely necessary, as 
stated also in the remarks accompanying the two other families. 
Not less difference of opinion exists with reference to the number and the 
names of genera, which have to be admitted into the family Vermerrpz. Moérch’s 
latest researches, as published in the Proc. Zool. Soc., London, for 1861 and 
1862, must be looked upon as the most important and leading, because they treat the 
subject in the historical point of view, and also in the examination of the shells or 
animals, in far greater detail, than those of any previous writers. These researches 
cannot, of course, be regarded as concluded, for besides the living species there are 
left an extensive number of the fossil forms, of some of which it is actually at present 
impossible to say, which are Annelids, and which are Gastropods. Moérch distin- 
guishes eight genera in the family Vzruzripx, namely, Burtinella, Stephopoma, 
Siphonium, Vermiculus, Spiroglyphus, Vermetus, Bivonia, and Thylacodes, to which 
we add a new one under the name of Tubulostiwm. 
* Journal de Conch., Vol. VII, p. 342, and Vol. VIII, p. 27.—Proceed. Zool. Soc., Lond., for 1861, pp. 145 
and 326; and for 1862, p. 54. 
