44 Annals <>/' ilia South African M/ix<'/tin. 



Beddard had in hand when he labelled the different bottles. Every 

 bottle has inside a piece of paper with the scientific name in 

 Beddard's handwriting, and outside on the label an exact note 

 written by Dr. Purcell, saying how many specimens the bottle 

 contained, firstly when sent to Beddard, and secondly when 

 returned to the Museum. This second note in all cases was in 

 accord with what I found. If there is now much confusion, the 

 cause of it must be seen in two rather gross mistakes of Beddard. 

 Firstly, with one exception (Acanthodrilus pliotodilm and A. 

 lucifuga), Beddard took it for granted a priori that each bottle 

 contained only a single species, whilst most of the bottles in fact 

 contained more than one. Beddard apparently has examined only 

 a small number of specimens out of each bottle, and then labelled the 

 whole according to his views on this small part only. Secondly, 

 Beddard took it for granted a priori that the different bottles in 

 each case contained different species, whilst in fact this or that 

 species occurs in different bottles. It might be assumed that later 

 the contents of different bottles became mixed. But I am sure that 

 this is not the case. Two circumstances are against this view, viz. 

 firstly the exactitude of Dr. Purcell 's registration, and secondly all 

 species from Knysna are found only in the bottles with the label 

 " Knysna," all species whose distribution really is restricted to the 

 Cape Flats are found only in the bottles labelled "Cape Flats." If 

 there indeed had been any intermingling, it could not be conceived 

 why it was restricted in each case to the bottles of the same locality. 

 This statement was necessary to justify my list of synonymies of 

 the species in question. 



In the following I give a list of the Oligochaets of the South 

 African Museum at Cape Town, together with short but sufficient 

 diagnoses of the new or insufficiently known species, and with 

 synonymical list and localities. 



FAMILY HAPLOTAXIDAE. 



PELODRILUS APRICANUS, Mich. 



1905. Pdodrilus africanus, Michaelsen in Deutsche Siidpolar- 



Exp., 1901-1903, ix., Zool., i., p. 19. 



LOG. Newlands slope of Table Mountain, near Cape Town ; 

 Dr. F. Purcell, leg. viii., 1886. 



