154 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



from California was that of Kinberg 1 , who, sometime be- 

 tween 185 1 and 1853, obtained a few specimens in the 

 vicinity of San Francisco. Three species were described 

 by Kinberg: Halosydna brevisetosa (which I have found 

 in great abundance), Mastigonereis spinosa, and Syllis 

 californica. 



A much larger collection was gathered in 1859-60 by 

 Alexander Agassiz, at several points along this coast be- 

 tween Panama and the Gulf of Georgia. Several new 

 species were described from this material by Ernst Ehlers 

 in his fine monograph " Die Borstenwurmer " (1864-67). 

 This collection has never been entirely worked up. 2 It 

 is worthy of note that three Atlantic species are enumerated 

 in the list of Agassiz's Annelids — Polynoe (Lepidonotus) 

 squamata, Harmothoe imbricaia , and Arenicola antillensis. 

 The occurrence of the two former on our coast I can verify 

 from personal observation. 



In 1863 3 and again in 1865 4 William Baird of the British Mu- 

 seum described seven species of Polychseta collected by J. 

 K. Lord at Esquimalt, Vancouver Island. Four of these I 

 have been able to identify with reasonable certainty: Halo- 

 sydna insignis, H. grubei (both of them varieties of H. 

 brevisetosa Kinberg), H. lordi, and H. fragilis, — and I 

 strongly suspect that his Harmothoe unicolor is none other 

 than the ubiquitous and highly variable Harmothoe im- 

 bricata. Baird's descriptions are lacking in precision, and 

 are unaccompanied by figures. 



Three species of Polychaeta from our coast were de- 

 scribed in 1889 by J. Walter Fewkes. 5 Two of these, 

 Sabellaria californica and Sabella pacifica are very com- 

 mon colony-forming species along the California coast. 



1 J. G. H. Kinberg: Nya Slagten och arter af Annelider. Ofversigt K. Vetensk.-Akad. 

 Forh., Bd. XII, 1855; also in: Ibid, Bd. XXII, 1S66 (Annulata Nova); also in: Frigatten 

 Kugenies Resa omkring jorden, Zoologi, 1858. 



2 1 am indebted to my friend, Dr. Wni. M. Woodworth, for opportunity to copy that 

 portion of his MS. catalogue of the Vermes of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 which includes Prof. Agassiz's collection. 



3 Proc. Zool. Soc. (London) for Apr., 1S63, pp. 106-110. 



4 Journal Linnaean Soc. (London), Vol. VIII, pp. 188-192, 196. 



6 "New Invertebrata from the Coast of California," Bull. Essex Institute, Vol. XXI, pp. 

 99-146, 7 Pis. 



