37^ Vol. 37, pp. 79-82 February 21, 1924 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW FRESHWATER NEREID FROM CHINA. BY RALPH V. CHAMBERLIN. It is well known that certain marine polychaetes of the Eu-ropean and American coasts are often found in the brackish waters of estuaries or even in the fresh water of the lower part of rivers but apparently without being able to breed in these locations. There are, however, certain forms so extremely adaptible that they seem to live and breed equally well in ma-rine brackish and fresh water, such being notably the South American Namanereis ouanaryensis (Gravier) and Namanereis quadraticeps (Gay). Other species of this same genus Nama-nereis (Lycastis of most authors) are found only in fresh water, and representatives of several other genera of Polychaeta, mostly monotypic, are likewise restricted to fresh water. Of the numerous families of Polychaeta only four have fresh-water representatives; and of all the truly fresh-water forms nearly two-thirds belong to the family Nereidae. A species of the latter family apparently not hitherto recorded lives in the fresh water of the rice-fields about Canton, China. The writer is indebted for a gravid female of this species, which represents an apparently new generic type, to Mr. Arthur S. Campbell, formerly of the Canton Christian College. Mr. Campbell supplies the following note on this nereid: "The worm was taken in great numbers at Canton, China, during the spring and summer months of the last year. Specimens are frequent in the rice-fields surrounding Canton and in the low-lands as far as Hongkong. The natives use them as an article of food after suitable preparation. The worms are caught in nets or baskets set as traps at the outlets of the rice-10— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 37, 1924. (79)
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