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



known Palmyrids in the heterogeneous character of its 

 paleas, and in the possession of only one tentacular cirrus 

 (the dorsal) on each side. Minor points of difference from 

 Chrysopetalum are the multi-segmented, almost moniliform 

 character of the cirri, and the unusual position of the ven- 

 tral cirrus (fig. 21). The ventral setee are very similar 

 to those of C. occidentale (cf. figs. 19a, b, and 23a, b.) 



The golden luster which is so beautiful a feature of the 

 paleas in most Palmyrids is not conspicuous in this species. 



Family IV. POLYNOID^. 



At least twelve representatives of this large family have 

 been obtained from our western coast, between Bering 

 Straits and the Mexican boundary line. Ten species have 

 been collected by me and are here described. The 

 remaining two, Polynoe vittata and P. tuta, were described 

 by Grube 1 in 1855 from material obtained at Sitka. I have 

 not seen his descriptions. Halosydna insignis and H. 

 grubei described by Baird in 1863" and again in 1865 3 from 

 specimens collected by J. K. Lord at Esquimalt, Vancouver 

 Island, are merely varieties of one species and identi- 

 cal with Halosydna brevisetosa, described by Kinberg 4 eight 

 j'ears previously. Harmothoe unicolor, described by Baird 

 from the same locality as the two preceding, is probably a 

 variety of H. imbricate 



The classification of the Polynoids is in a most unsatis- 

 factory state, and much in need of thorough revision. 

 The great multiplication of genera, nearly all of them 

 founded upon variable, non-essential, or even accidental 

 characters, and none of them clearly and fully defined, 

 has been a serious drawback to the study of these inter- 

 esting forms. Hence the more conservative students of 

 the group, recognizing the instability of the numerous genera 



1 Beschreibung neuer oder weuig gekannter Anneliden. Arch, fur Naturgesch., Bd. 

 XXXI, 1855, p. 1. 

 2 1. c, p. 106, 107. 

 »1. c.,p. 188, 189. 



<1. C, p. 385. 



