moniliform and to have a contractile bulb on each side at the origin of the transverse
vessel, whilst the oblique trunks pass forward apparently internal to these, and may have
no connection with the bulb.
Linnaaus (1758) considered the annelid a Teredo.
Dumeril (1806) ranged the Sabellarians under the genus Amphitrite, between what
he calls l’Arrosoir (? Sabella penicillus) and the Terebellids, which were followed by the
Sabellids, the Serpulids and Spirorbids being separately placed in front of Amphitrite.
The Hermellidae were entered by Savigny (1820) under the Serpulids, yet his
description of their general structure was fair.
This family was established by De Quatrefages in 1848, and he gives a summary of
the chief characters in his Annel^s (1865), placing the group between the Spionidae and
the Amphictenidae. He arranged them according to the regions of the body, Hermella
and Pallasia having three, but the former is distinguished from the latter by. possessing
an operculum with three rows of paleae, whereas the latter has but two. The body in
Gentrocorone, again, has only two regions. The early memoirs of this author on the
“ Hermelliens ” are of great interest.
Dr. Thomas Williams1 (1851) placed the Hermellidae along with Amphictene under
his genus Amphitrite. He gives a detailed description of the function of the paleae of the
crown, of the hooks, of the “ liver ” which coats the intestine, and the supply of minute
organisms carried to the mouth by the currents of water caused by the cilia of the
“ branchiae ” and other parts. He was of opinion that the water deposited these organisms
in the stomach and passed onward to the vent.
Three species were described by Dr. Johnston (1865) in his Catalogue of the
Worms, viz., Sabellaria anglica and 8. crassissima (which probably belong to the same
species, viz., S. alveolata) and 8. lumbricalis (= 8. spirmlosd). His descriptions are both
interesting and minute, and the figures of the bristles by his accomplished wife are easily
recognized.
The family Hermellacea of Grube came between the Terebellids and Serpulids in his
early classification (1851).
The segmental organs are stated by Cosmovici (1880) to occur throughout the greater
part of the body. Each has the form of a trumpet, viz., the wide end at the diaphragm
near the alimentary canal, and the tubular portion passing outward to open by a
pore toward the dorsal division of the foot. The organs transmit the eggs. Re-investi-
gation of these organs is necessary. The genital glands occur in pairs close to the
diaphragms.
The Hermellidae formed the only family of Levinsen’s (1883) group Hermelliformia,
and in his analytical table he placed them between the Spionidae and the Maldanidae, a
position which does not seem to be an improvement on the classification of Malmgren.
Hacker (1896) mentions that the larva is an armed Monotrochous form (De Quatref.).
Cunningham and Ramage (1888) supposed that the so-called cephalic lobes were
modified anterior feet, since in no other case in the group do bristles occur on the
prostomium. They found the cerebral ganglia above the anterior end of the oesophagus,
and in contact with the ventral integumentary surface of the base of the peduncles of the
1 ‘ Rep. Brit. Assoc./ 1851.
paleae, the whole substance of which (paleae) belongs to the body and not to the pre-oral
region. Similar views have been mentioned by others and recently by Caullery. Cunningham
found a large neural canal, similar to that of Sabella, on the inner side of each
nerve-cord, as had previously been pointed out by the author.1
Ashworth8 (1912) observes that large quantities of Hermellids are used for bait in
the neighbourhood of Marseilles. The majority of the Polychaets, indeed, are eagerly
eaten by the food-fishes.
The development of the Hermellidae has been the subject of researches by De
Quatrefages,8 Horst,4 von Dräsche5 and Caullery.6
One of the earliest investigators of the development of the Sabellarians was De
Quatrefages,7 who observed the ripe ova in the ccelomic cavity of the adults, but he did
not notice the mode by which they were extruded. He followed the changes subsequent
to fertilisation, as well as the extrusion of two bodies (polar bodies ?), the segmentation,
early formation of the digestive system, and the assumption of cilia. His views about the
similarity of the serous (external) layer in fertilised and unfertilised ova would not now
be held.
Caullery8 (1914) began where his predecessors left off, viz., the trochophore stage, in
which the larva is pyriform (somewhat earlier than in Plate XCIV, fig. 9). The
prostomial region is greatly developed, with an apical tuft of cilia, a red eye-spot, and an
area with large touches of yellow pigment more or less disposed in three concentric belts.
The pre-oral ciliated ring (prototroch) is well developed, with the mouth behind it, whilst
on each side is a tuft of long, jointed and barbed bristles inserted into a differentiated
region with muscles. At the posterior end are a few touches of yellow pigment. The
accomplished French author points out that it is difficult to distinguish this early stage
from larval Spionids, yet from his studies at Wimereux he clears up the subject by
demonstrating that the development of the palps in the Sabellarian is much less rapid
than in the Spionids, which also develop, as the larva elongates, simple capillary bristles
in the segments behind (Plate XCIV, figs. 10 and 12), and which, like the jointed forms,
are provisional bristles during the pelagic stage. Finally, the anal ring of cilia is much
more conspicuous in the Sabellarian larva (Plate XCIV, fig. 11). As Caullery’s species
at "Wimereux was in all probability Tetreres (Pallasia) murata, Allen, the figures in the
Monograph (Plate XCIV) slightly differ, and apparently are those of Sabellaria
spinulosa, Leuckart.
Caullery describes and figures four subsequent stages, the second (that already
described being the first) showing more distinct segmentation, two eyes, increased
pigmentation, and in the middle two violet rings. In the third stage there are three
1 ‘ Proceed. R. S. E./ 1876—7, p. 10 (sep. copy).
9 ‘ Catal. Chsetop. Brit. Mus./ p. 100.
s ‘ Ann. Sc. Nat. Zool./ 3® ser., t. viii, 1847, and t. x, 1848.
4 ‘Versl. Med. K. Akad. Vet. Amsterdam,’ 2e R., 16 Th., 1881.
6 ‘ Beitr. Entwickel. Polychset./ 2t9s Heft, Wien, 1885.
6 ‘ Bull. Soc. Zool. France,’ t. xxxix, p. 168, with text-figs.
7 * Ann. Sc. Nat. Zool.,’ 8e ser., t. viii, p. 99.
8 Op. cit., p. 169.