Pillai (1970) proposed that the Spirorbidae form a distinct family and, though closely related to serpulids, they are indeed more surely separate than many families of birds and insects. Their study in Britain was well begun by Montagu (1803), with so much ecological detail that most of the species in his account (about ten) can be recognized by anyone who is really familiar with the marine fauna of Devon. All the names which he used, however, have lapsed or been applied otherwise, except Spirorbis spirorbis L. and even that has often been called S. borealis. Some of the nomenclature of McIntosh (1923) has similarly lapsed, because it conflicted with clear descriptions by French and Scandinavian authors, including Fauvel (1927).