On the supposed identity of Bathynoë nodulosus Ditl. and Weberia pustulata Horst

In December 1915 I published a preliminary account of a rare Polynoidworm, Weberia pustulata, dredged by the Siboga Expedition in a considerable depth in the Malayan Archipelago, at the stations 45 and 314, north off Soembawa 1). The species is especially characterized by the total absence of the eyes as well as of the ventral cirri, except in the first setigerous segment; moreover it lacks the notopodial fascicle, whereas the neuropodial one is represented by four hook-shaped setae. Some time ago Hjalmar Ditlevsen kindly forwarded to me the 1st part of his account of the Annelids of the Danish Ingolf-Expedition 2). In this paper I met with the description of a Polynoid-worm, Bathynoë nodulosus, dredged at great depth in the Atlantic Ocean (south off Iceland), that in its essential characters so much agrees with Weberia pustulata, that I concluded the two species to be identical. Unfortunately the Malayan worms had lost the dorsal cirri as well as the elytra, some of which however were preserved in the Atlantic specimen. Having informed Mr. Ditlevsen of my supposition, he answered me, that he also was much inclined to consider the two forms as specifically identical. No doubt it is an interesting contribution to our knowledge of the wide geographical distribution of abyssal forms.