4 NEPHTHYDIDJS. 



No British species shows the large foliaceous branchiae occasionally seen in foreign 

 species, as in the N. phyllobranchia of the ' Challenger.' 



Though not falling within the British area it may be mentioned that Nephthys 

 (Aglaophamus) inermis, Ehlers, occurs in European waters, having been procured in the 

 ' Porcupine ' Expedition of 1870 off Cape Finisterre in 81 fathoms. 1 It may occur yet 

 nearer Britain. Ehlers procured it from Florida. 



Nephthys caeca and others are found at all parts between tide marks in North Uist 

 in muddy sand, and therefore Dr. Drummond's opinion that they are only found at very 

 low- water requires qualification. Moreover, since in this island very heavy showers of 

 rain fall after they are uncovered by the tide for a considerable time, they can scarcely 

 be so sensitive to fresh water as supposed. 



The various members of the family are used as bait. 



Certain features, and especially the structure of the bristles, suggest affinity between 

 the Nephthydidae and the Ariciidae, and future investigation may throw light on this 

 subject. 



Linnaeus included the marine Annelids under the great group of the Vermes, and the 

 Nephthydidae were generally ranged amongst the Nereids, one of the groups of the 

 Vermes Mollusca. A similar arrangement was followed by Otho Fabricius, and by 

 0. F. Muller, who placed the majority under his Vermes Helminthica. 



Savigny in his ' Systeme' (1820) arranged the Nephthydians under his family Nereides, 

 but he observed their distinction from the other members of the group, and hence he 

 separated them as a sub-section — Nephthys. They are characterised by a proboscis 

 furnished with tentacles at the orifice; antennas — both exterior and middle — equal; no 

 tentacular cirri ; all the cirri short — almost absent ; branchiae distinct. 



Of the genus Nephthys he gave a detailed and fairly accurate description so far as he 

 went, though he observed only a single row of bristles. 



Notwithstanding these remarks he on a later page was inclined to place the Nereis 

 Gseca of Otho Fabricius under a new genus — Aonis. As the form referred to is only 

 N cdsca, it is unnecessary to refer further to this lapsus. 



Audouin and Milne Edwards (1834) placed this family along with Glycera and 

 Goniada in the second tribe of the Nereidiens non tentacules. Their description was on 

 the whole good, though they misinterpreted the dorsal cirrus. 



Grube (1 851) in his ' Familien der Anneliden ' grouped the Nephthydea under his 

 Tribe Rapacia as the fifth family between the Lycoridea and Phyllodocea. In his 

 subsequent papers he does not seem to have directed further attention to the systematic 

 position of this type, though in the Annelids of the i Gazelle ' (1877) he put them 

 between Goniada and Cirratulus. 



Dr. George Johnston arranged his Nephthacae between the Nereids and the 

 Phyllodocids. 



Kinberg 2 did not much change the characters of the family as described by Grube. 

 His chief features were — the flattened head with two antennae (tentacles) and two palpi, 



1 'Ann. Nat. Hist./ ser. 7, vol. v, p. 254. 



3 « Annulata Nova." < Ofver. Af. k. Vet-Akad/ Forh., 1865, No. 2. 



