,:;n Transactions of the Society. 



XXV. — New British Enehytrsrids. 

 By The Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S, F.R.M.S. 



(Read October 18, 1911.) 

 Plate XXVIII. 



I. — Enchytr&us minimi's Bret. 



Aided by a Government Grant towards Researches among our 

 British Annelids, I have recently been able to make much progress 

 in the preparation of a Monograph on the subject for the Ray Society. 

 Among the worms to which I have been giving special attention 

 i luring the present year is a group of microscopic forms which 

 have so far been but very imperfectly studied in this country, and 

 it seems appropriate that I should inaugurate my introduction to 

 this Society by giving, first of all, an account of the smallest of the 

 Enehytrreids at present known, and the latest to be added to our 

 Annelid fauna. 



Towards the end of May I paid a visit to Buxton and the 

 adjoining district in the hope of finding something new, and it 

 was here that the worm now to be described was discovered. As 

 I was going along the Serpentine Walk I saw some rubbish and 

 leaf-mould near the banks of the Wye, where the road crosses on 

 the way to Burbage. Among this material I found the common 

 earthworm (Lumbricus terrcstris Linn.), the red worm {L. rubellus 

 Hoff.), the brandling (Eisenia foetida Sav.), and other Annelids. I 

 brought away some of the leaf-mould for examination at home, and 

 had the good fortune to find that I had alighted on the haunts of 

 the midget white worm (Enchytrtmis minimus Bret.). 



This tiny creature was first described by Bretscher in 1899 under 

 the foregoing title.* As I have not the original memoir at hand, I 

 am unable to quote the author's definition directly, but I take the 

 following abstract from the careful work of Michaelsen : — 



" E. minimus Bretscher. Im Leben weiss, hinten gelblich. 

 Borsten zu 3 in den ventralen, zu 2 in den dorsalen Biindeln, 

 ziemlich gross, von halber Segnient-Lange. Gehirn 1^-2 mal so lang 

 wie im Maximum breit, nach vorn verschmalert, hinten abgerundet 

 oder schwach ausgeschnitten, vorn konkav. Bauchmark mit 

 spindelformigen Verbreiterungen (Kopulationsdriisen ?) im 5 und 6 

 Segm. Lymphkorper gross, wenig zahlreich, fast kreisrund, grob 

 granuliert und mit kern versehen. Das Riickengefass entspringt 

 im 12-14 Segm., 3 Paar Septaldriisen vorhanden. Peptonephridien 



* Rev. Suisse Zool., vi. p. 402. 



