4 HERMELLDLE. 



moniliform and to have a contractile bulb on each side at the origin of the transverse 

 vessel, whilst the oblique trunks pass forward apparently internal to these, and may have 

 no connection with the bulb. 



Linnseus (1758) considered the annelid a Teredo. 



Dumeril (1806) ranged the Sabellarians under the genus Amphitrite, between what 

 he calls l'Arrosoir (? Sabella penicillus) and the Terebellids, which were followed by the 

 Sabellids, the Serpulids and Spirorbids being separately placed in front of Amphitrite. 



The Hermellidse were entered by Savigny (1820) under the Serpulids, yet his 

 description of their general structure was fair. 



This family was established by De Quatrefages in 1848, and he gives a summary of 

 the chief characters in his Anneles (1865), placing the group between the Spionida3 and 

 the AmphictenidaB. He arranged them according to the regions of the body, Hermella 

 and Pallasia having three, but the former is distinguished from the latter by possessing 

 an operculum with three rows of palege, whereas the latter has but two. The body in 

 Centrocorone, again, has only two regions. The early memoirs of this author on the 

 " Hermelliens " are of great interest. 



Dr. Thomas Williams l (1851) placed the Hermellidse along with Amphictene under 

 his genus Amphitrite. He gives a detailed description of the function of the paleae of the 

 crown, of the hooks, of the " liver " which coats the intestine, and the supply of minute 

 organisms carried to the mouth by the currents of water caused by the cilia of the 

 " branchiae " and other parts. He was of opinion that the water deposited these organisms 

 in the stomach and passed onward to the vent. 



Three species were described by Dr. Johnston (1865) in his Catalogue of the 

 Worms, viz., Sabellaria anglica and 8. crassissima (which probably belong to the same 

 species, viz., 8. alveolata) and 8. lumbricalis (= S. spinulosa). His descriptions are both 

 interesting and minute, and the figures of the bristles by his accomplished wife are easily 

 recognized. 



The family Hermellacea of Grube came between the Terebellids and Serpulids in his 

 early classification (1851). 



The segmental organs are stated by Cosmo vici (1880) to occur throughout the greater 

 part of the body. Each has the form of a trumpet, viz., the wide end at the diaphragm 

 near the alimentary canal, and the tubular portion passing outward to open by a 

 pore toward the dorsal division of the foot. The organs transmit the eggs. Re-investi- 

 gation of these organs is necessary. The genital glands occur in pairs close to the 

 diaphragms. 



The Hermellidae formed the only family of Levinsen's (1883) group Hermelliformia, 

 and in his analytical table he placed them between the Spionidae and the Maldanidae, a 

 position which does not seem to be an improvement on the classification of Malmgren. 



Hacker (1896) mentions that the larva is an armed Monotrochous form (De Quatref.). 



Cunningham and Ramage (1888) supposed that the so-called cephalic lobes were 

 modified anterior feet, since in no other case in the group do bristles occur on the 

 prostomium. They found the cerebral ganglia above the anterior end of the oesophagus, 

 and in contact with the ventral integumentary surface of the base of the peduncles of the 



1 'Rep. Brit. Assoc./ 1851. 



