NO. 1 hartman: polychaetous annelids 19 



Family Aphroditidac 



The Aphroditidae are almost entirely restricted to subintertidal 

 habitats. Thus they are usually not encountered in shore collecting. 

 Two genera, Aphrodita Linnaeus and Pontogenia Claparede, are rep- 

 resented in the collections. 



Sixteen species of the genus Aphrodita have been reported from the 

 eastern Pacific, the majority of them as original descriptions, and only 

 one species of Pontogenia {P. curva Chamberlin). Many of these are 

 too little known to permit certain identity. Eleven species of Aphrodita 

 were originally described from California, nine of which originated in 

 southern California. A revision of the entire group from the eastern 

 Pacific is necessary before any extensive conclusions may be drawn as 

 to the distribution of these species. A revision and study of the type 

 specimens would be of the greatest value. However, at least some of 

 them have not been found where they were said to have been deposited. 



Numerous specimens available for study in the collections of The 

 University of Southern California, collected from California south to 

 Peru, have permitted the identification of some of the species which 

 had been in doubt. A. raripillata Essenberg (1917, p. 413) agrees well 

 with A. armifera Moore (1910, p. 371). Both types originated in 

 southern California. A. armifera Fauvel (1925, p. 144) from Australia 

 is another species (see page 23). A. cryptommata Essenberg (1917, p. 

 409) must be referred to A. japonica Marenzeller (1879, p. Ill), one 

 of the commonest species of Aphrodita dredged in fairly shallow waters 

 from southern California southward. A. leioseta Chamberlin (1919, p. 

 254) from Mendocino, California, is perhaps the same. A. echidna 

 Treadwell (1906, p. 1157) (not Quatrefages, 1865, p. 197) was re- 

 ferred to A. japonica by Moore (1910, p. 375). This seems unlikely, 

 however, because some of the neuropodial setae were said to be bifur- 

 cated, with a denticulate tip (Treadwell, 1906, fig. 24). This condition 

 is not usually characteristic of the genus Aphrodita. 



Aphrodita solitaria Essenberg (1917, p. 408) may be the same as 

 A. refulgida Moore (1910, p. 376). Both have pointed neuropodial 

 setae (pi. 1, figs. 7, 8) in addition to other identical characters, and 

 both probably originate from southern California. A. castanea Moore 

 (1910, p. 380) was compared with A. negligens Moore (1905, p. 525; 

 1910, p. 385) but their identity was not definitely established. These 

 two, as also A. calif ornica Essenberg (1917, p. 406), have many simi- 



