224 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



nomenclature I have used a tree hand — especially among 

 the Polynoinse, the Syllidse, and the Nereidae where I have 

 followed the example set by Theel, Hansen, and other 

 recent authors in suppressing many of the genera insti- 

 tuted by Malmgren and adopted by Professor M'Intosh 

 in his "Challenger" Report and elsewhere. Lists of 

 synonyms are dispensed with, as such can be found by 

 reference to the Nordisha Hafs-Annulater and the Annu- 

 lata Polychceta of Malmgren, and to the memoir on the 

 Polychceta Sedentaria of the Firth of Forth by Cunning- 

 ham and Eamage. The specific nomenclature of these 

 works I follow closely ; the few exceptions being noted. 



To make the present report as far as possible, a com- 

 plete chronicle of the Polychaetous fauna of the district, 

 such species as I have not met with, but which appear in 

 previous lists and are well authenticated, have been 

 inserted. Re-examination, however, of some of the 

 material described by Mr. R. J. Harvey Gibson in his 

 paper upon the Vermes of the district, (Fauna of Liverpool 

 Bay, vol. I., p. 144) shows that he had fallen into the 

 following errors, viz. : — (a) His " Malmgrenia castanea" 

 found in the ambulacral groove of Astropecten turns out 

 to be nothing more than the usual Astropecten commensal 

 Acholoe astericola; (6) his " SpiocJicetopterus typicus" is 

 the diagnostic portion of the body of Chcetopterus insignis; 

 (c) his (new British species) " Iphione muricata" is in 

 reality the not uncommon Nychia cirrosa from the tube 

 of Chcetopterus ; (d) his Nereis viridis is one form of N. 

 pelagica ; w r hile (<?) the identity of Pectinaria auricoma 

 with P. belgica which he tried to prove, is, as has been 

 shown by Cunningham and Ramage, founded upon over- 

 sights and erroneous premises. There are some other 

 cases where I suspect Mr. Gibson's identification to be at 

 fault, and in this uncertain category I am inclined to place 



