Excerpt from Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoӧlogy, at Harvard College, Vol. 48The annelids with which the present memoir is concerned are embraced in collections made by the Albatross during three distinct expeditions in charge of Mr. Alexander Agassiz to contiguous, and in some degree overlapping, areas of the Tropical Pacific Ocean. In the first of these, explorations were made off the west coasts of Mexico, Central, and northern South America, and off the Galapagos Islands from February to May, 1891. So far as concerns the polychaetes collected, the second expedition covered the region from the Marquesas and Paumotus westward to the Ellice, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands and was carried on from September, 1899, to March, 1900. The third expedition, continued from October, 1904, to March, 1905, covered an extensive area principally off the South American coast from Panama southward to Peru and eastward to the Galapagos, Easter Island, and the Paumiotus. In addition, thirteen species from earlier expeditions of the Albatross in the Atlantic are listed in this Memoir.These three expeditions, with the exception in some degree of the second, covered areas essentially untouched by other expeditions, and the annelid forms have proved in large measure new. No fewer than one hundred and eighteen out of a total of one hundred and seventy-five species seem not to have been previously described, these including twenty-three new generic types of which several are of high interest. While the littoral forms are well represented, these coming chiefly from Panama and the Polynesian Islands, chief interest attaches to the abyssal and pelagic species. The collection of pelagic species is exceptionally rich and important. Aside from relatively numerous representatives of strictly pelagic families, such as the Alciopidae, Typhloscolecidae, and Tomopteridae, many forms from other families were secured which are either in the epitokous pelagic phase or are completely pelagic.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.