142 SYLLTDM. 



separated the sexual forms of Autolytus in a distinct family, the Amytidea. The Syllids 

 followed the Grlyceridse as the eighth family of Annelids. 



Dr. Thomas Williams (1851) was not able to demonstrate the segmental organs in 

 the genus Syllis "by any manoeuvre." He thought they resembled those of Psamathe 

 (Gastalia). 



In his " Grlanures," Claparede (1861), after careful study at Port- Vendres, gave a more 

 or less complete classification of the Syllidse up to date. He took the frontal lobes (palpi), 

 the armature of the pharynx, the different kinds of cirri, and various external features — 

 for instance, the presence or absence of ventral cirri — as a basis, and he produced a 

 useful classification for the period. He made thirteen genera. 



Ehlers, 1 after an extended historical account of the family, gives a classification, the 

 main divisions of which rest on the presence or absence of palpi, the subdivisions having 

 as their basis the presence or absence of bristles on the first segment. Under those with 

 palpi, the number of tentacular cirri, the armature of the proboscis, the nature of the 

 palpi, and the presence or absence of ventral cirri, are used to differentiate the genera. 

 In those devoid of palpi, the main groups rest on the nature of the cirri, which may 

 occur on all the segments, on certain segments, or be absent. 



In an appendix 2 to this part he gives an elaborate series of references as well as 

 descriptions of new and other genera arranged under the various heads. While this 

 able author has greatly increased our knowledge of the group, he shows, perhaps, a 

 tendency to increase unnecessarily the number of the genera. 



The terminology of Kinberg 3 (1865) was as follows : — Median tentacle = his 

 tentaculum ; lateral tentacles = his antennse (antennse interiores and antennse exteriores) ; 

 palpi ; posterior part of cephalic lobe (Grube) = his segmentum buccale ; buccal segment 

 (Grrube) = his segmentum primum corporis. Kinberg relied for discrimination on what 

 he termed " maxillse," the papillse of the proboscis, the palpi, the condition of the 

 tentacles and cirri, the eyes, and the bristles. 



De Quatrefages (1865), who placed the Syllidse between the Nereids and Hesionidge, 

 describes salivary glands at the posterior part of the proboscis (trompe) in the form of 

 small granular masses, or occasionally simple caeca. He probably refers to the gastric 

 caaca, as he mentions that the intestine follows. As a rule blood-vessels, he says, are 

 absent. Only in Grubea did he find a dorsal vessel. This author classified them 

 according to the mobility or immobility of the feet, the presence of cirri (dorsal and 

 ventral), the armature of the "gizzard," the structure of the head and its appendages, 

 and the number of " antennas " and tentacles. He, however, included members of the 

 Staurocephalidse, such as Prionognathus, Hesionidae, like Kefersteinia (Gastalia), and gave 

 generic distinction to sexual forms like Ioicla. 



Claparede 4 thought the posterior region of the intestine in this group had a urinary 

 function. In Trypanosyllis coeliaca he found lateral diverticula of the intestine, and he 



iBorstenw./ I (1864). 



2 Ibid., pp. 255—256. 



3 < Ofvers. af k. Vet.-Akad. Fork., 5 No. 2; p. 248 (1865). 



4 'Annel. Neap./ 1868. 



