HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT. 13 



A very slight notice of the Nemerteans occurs in Pennant's ' British Zoology' (edit. 1812), 

 two only being mentioned, and those previously described by Montagu. 



Some remarks on the habits of Lineus marinus were made by the Rev. Hugh Davies in 1815. 

 He observed that the animal was sensitive to light, though he could not discover eyes. He also 

 considered that the spiral form was purposely assumed by the worm during progression, for he 

 could not perceive how its amazing length could otherwise be transported. He thought it 

 by no means improbable that it reached the length of twelve or even fifteen fathoms. 1 An 

 almost verbatim report of this paper appeared next year (1816) in the f London Medical and 

 Physical Journal,' p. 207. 



In the same year Oken, 3 in his " Lehrbuch," brings in this well-known species [Lineus 

 marinus) after Nais and Lumbricus, under the name of Borlasia anglite. He correctly describes the 

 mouth, and gives a short resume of what was known with regard to the Devonshire specimens, 

 and a small outline of the species. 



Lamarck, in his e Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertebres,' 1816, like other 

 writers about this time, copies the arrangement of O. P. Midler. He did not think that the 

 Planarise were annelids, but that they approached the leeches. 3 



Cuvier, unaware of the names previously given to these animals by Sowerby and Oken, for 

 the first time applied the term Nemertes^ in 1817 to designate the species described by Borlase. 

 He groups the animal in the second class (of his Zoophytes) "Zes Intestinaux" {Entozoa, Rudolphi), 

 and in the first order of this class, " Zes intestinauw cavit aires" along with very heterogeneous 

 companions, such as Lemaea and others. He thus separated them from the Planarians, which he 

 placed under the head of the " Zntestinaux parencJiymateuoc" The sole species known to him was 

 the Nemertes Borlasii, Cuvier, which, he says, insinuates its anterior extremity (by which he in the 

 first instance means the tail, since he mistook the anterior for the posterior end) into Anomise, 

 for the purpose of sucking the contents, a feat, it appears to me, of somewhat dubious veracity. 

 In his second edition he left the Prostomse amongst the Planarians, following, according to M. 

 de Quatrefages, Duges in this respect. In Griffith's edition 5 of the ' Regne Animal ' of this 

 author little further information is given. Of Nemertes it is said by way of description, " It is a 

 worm extremely soft and elongated, smooth, slender, flattened, and terminated at one extremity 

 by a large blunt point, pierced by a hole ; widened, and broadly opened at the opposite extremity, 

 by which it fixes itself. Its intestine traverses the whole length of the body. Another canal, 

 probably connected with generation, winds along its parietes, and finishes at a tubercle on the 

 margin of the wide aperture. MM. Dorbigny and de Blainville, who have seen this animal 

 living, assure us that the wide aperture is the mouth/' Besides repeating the remark about the 

 sucking of the Anomia by Nemertes Borlasii, it is further explained that the animal remains sunk 

 in the sand, and is " more than four feet long," neither of which observations adds in any way to 

 our knowledge. The only point of interest in this description is the cautious correction of the 

 mistake which Cuvier made in holding the anterior as the posterior end of the worm. In the illus- 



1 'Some Observations on the Sea Long- Worm of Borlase, Gordius marinus of Monta/ Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, vol. xi, p. 292. 



3 « Lehrbnch der Naturgeschichte, Dritter Theil, Zoologie.' Erster Abtheil. &c. Jena, 1815, p. 365, 

 tab. xi, fig. 4. 



3 ' Hist. nat. des anim. sans vert/ Paris, 1816, &c. 



4 Cuvier, f Regne Animal/ Tome iv. Paris, 1817. 



5 Vol. xii, p. 468. London, 1834. 



