EEPORT THE ANNELIDA. 
iii 
to be a remarkable form with some superficial resemblances to the Polynoidse, though it 
may be a larval animal belonging to a different tyj^e. The absence of minute descrip- 
tions, with the exception of Trophonia loyvillei, and still more of specimens, prevents 
anything further being advanced about the foregoing sketches. 
Numerous specimens of Sternaspis occurred in the collection, but, believing with 
Selenka, Vejdovsky, and others, that this group lies between the Chsetopoda and Gephyrea, 
they were at once forwarded with a few other forms to Prof. E. Pay Lankester, who at that 
time intended to work up the Gephyreans.^ It was my intention to describe the 
Nemerteans, and, indeed, sections of the majority had been made, and an outline of the 
group and its literature prepared. So much work, however, had fallen to my lot since 
my return to St. Andrews, especially in connection with the fisheries, that with Mr. 
Murray’s sanction I had great pleasure in handing over the Nemerteans to my friend 
Prof. Hubrecht of Utrecht, in whose skilled hands the interests of science will be more 
than safe. I confidently look forward to the publication of the recent important 
researches of Ur. Hubrecht, based on the Nemerteans of this Expedition. 
A few Crustacean parasites occurred on the Annelids, and it has been deemed proper 
to describe them along with their hosts rather than separate them by giving them over 
to another worker. 
In order to gain a correct view of the position occupied by the group to which this 
Report is devoted, I have made a few notes on some of the previous voyages. These 
must not by any means be regarded as complete or exhaustive, but simply represent a 
few broad touches to aid in bringing out the relations of the series of Annelids collected 
by the Challenger to previous efforts in this department. 
The earlier voyagers seldom included the Annelids in their collections, though it is 
true a ship captain brought some specimens to Pallas, and gave that author an oppor- 
tunity of describing certain new forms; while a few others, for iustance Adler, mention 
them in connection with phosphorescence. In some of these voyages the invertebrates, 
however, formed a prominent feature, e.g., in Phipp’s Voyage to the North Pole in H.M.S. 
“Racehorse.”^ Moreover, in this early expedition it is evident considerable care had 
been taken to secure specimens, and the use of the trawl on the northern shores of 
Spitzbergen is a feature of considerable interest. Three Annelids are mentioned as 
having been thus procured, viz., Serpula spirorbis, Serpula triquetra, and Sabella 
frustiilosa, the latter characterised by “ Testa solitaria libera simplici curvata; fragmentis 
conchaceis sabulosisque.” The attention given to zoology in this expedition is note- 
worthy, and in contrast, for instance, with what was done in M. Soniierat’s Voyage a la 
Nouvelle Guinee,® which was published shortly afterwards. 
1 Vide Keport on the Gephyrea, collected by H.M.S. Challenger, by Prof. Emil Selenka of Erlangen. Zool. Chalk 
Exp., part xxxvi., 1885. 
^ London, 1774, 4to. 
^ Paris, 1776. 
