New British Enchytrs&ids. By Rev. H. Friend. 7 -'5 5 



number, four being predominant. In the hinder portion of the 

 body the setae are of almost equal length — two, three, or four in a 

 bundle. In the middle of the body the setae are four, the inner- 

 most pair being somewhat shorter than the others. In the front 

 of the body the setae are shorter than behind, and are often irregular. 

 There may be two, three, four, or even five (rarely) in a bundle, 

 and it frequently happens that they are of different lengths, re- 

 calling, in some degree, the appearance of the setae in Buchholzia 

 fallax. But the reason is different, the irregularity in Fridericia 

 being due to the falling away of the outer setae on one side of the 

 bundle while they remain on the other. 



The number of segments is about 35, and they are nearly all of 

 equal dimensions. The head is only slightly glandular. There 

 are three pairs of septal glands in segments 5, 6 and 7, and on the 

 integument of segment 5 a large unpaired gland, brownish in 

 colour, and made up of many very small cells. It may be a 

 copulation gland,* but differs from all others I have ever seen, 

 and is not connected with any modification of the nerve centres. 

 The brain is slightly indented or concave behind but not in front. 

 The pharynx extends through the whole of segment 2 and the half 

 of segments 1 and 3, and could be everted with ease. 



As is the case with Henlea, the oesophagus is sharply marked 

 off from the intestine. Tiie intestine of the 8th segment assumes 

 a unique appearance, and the 9th is the first which is normally 

 like all those which follow. The dorsal vessel springs from seg- 

 ment 13 or 15, and in segments 7, 8, 9 there are large pulsating 

 dilatations, which seem to resemble those found in Fridericia 

 pcrrieri Vejd., and in that case are of peculiar interest, as they 

 show that such enlargements are not necessarily (as Beddard 

 suggests) connected with the anticlitellian origin of the dorsal 

 vessel. 



There is a very small commissural vessel in segment 3, but the 

 blood-vessels are extremely delicate, and are made out with diffi- 

 culty. This is due in part to the fact that the blood is colourless, 

 and it is therefore often very hard to say where the various organs 

 begin, end, or overlap. This is especially the case also in reference 

 to the salivary glands, which spring from the oesophagus close to 

 the pharynx, and extend backwards without branching, forming 

 long sacs, as in Fridericia parva Bret. Indeed, after the most care- 

 ful examination, I could not discover a free posterior extremity, 

 and I have come to the conclusion that these glands are attached to 

 the oesophagus at both ends in or near segments 3 and 7. But as 

 all my observations had to be made upon a single specimen, it may 

 be that when further material is obtained this view will have to 

 undergo modification. (Plate XXVIII. fig. 4.) 



* Later study leads me to think it is not a point of importance. 



3 B 2 



