Zool.— Vol. I.] JOHNSON— PACIFIC COAST ANNELIDS. 155 



The material upon which my own study of the Polychagta 

 is based has been gathered almost entirely from the Califor- 

 nia coast, and for the most part within the littoral zone. A 

 few species not found within the area left bare by the tides 

 have been dredged from very moderate depths (down to 

 twenty or twenty-five fathoms), and a yet smaller number 

 have been taken from stones brought up on fish-hooks from 

 a greater depth in Monterey Bay. 1 The Polychseta now 

 deposited in the Museum of the University of Califor- 

 nia have been collected by my colleague, Prof. Wm. E. 

 Ritter, by students in the University (particularly Messrs. 

 F. W. Bancroft and H. B. Torrey), and by myself. The 

 localities where the most extensive and thorough collecting 

 has been done are San Pedro (summer and winter of 1895, 

 summer of 1896), Pacific Grove (1894, 1896, 1897), and the 

 vicinity of San Francisco. Collecting has been done, besides, 

 at a number of other points — San Diego, San Clemente and 

 Santa Catalina Islands, Bodega Bay, Point Arena, Point 

 Mendocino, Humboldt Bay, Shelter Cove, Trinidad, and 

 Patrick's Point. A few species from Puget Sound have 

 been recently added to the collection. 2 



A word should perhaps be said in regard to terminology. 

 I have employed the old terms "dorsal" and "ventral" 

 instead jof the more modern " haemal " and " neural." Con- 

 sequently the uppermost branch or division of the parapo- 

 dium is the "dorsal ramus," and the lower the "ventral 

 ramus." The seta? borne by these two portions are re- 

 spectively the "dorsal setae" and the "ventral setae." 

 The appendages of the prostomium are the "tentacle" 

 (median and unpaired), the " antenna?" (paired and adja- 

 cent to the tentacle) and the "palpi" (paired organs of 

 touch, very contractile in Polynoidae, springing from the 

 ventral side of the prostomium). The somite immediately 

 back of the prostomium is the " peristomium," and is the 



1 For these specimens I am indebted to Dr. Bashford Dean of Columbia University. 

 He was informed by Ah Tak, the Chinese fisherman from whom he obtained them, that 

 the depth was go to 100 fathoms. 



3 For these I am indebted to Miss Alice Robertson, student in Natural Science at this 

 University, and to Master John Dewhurst of Seattle, Washington. 



