358 NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN LAND-PLANARIANS, 



other hand all the Australian species characterised by the possession 

 of two eyes are dull-coloured and very inconspicuous, yet they 

 live under similar conditions, and in similar and often in the 

 same situations as the many-eyed species of Geoplana ; "we have 

 found examples of both genera under the same log. 



The anterior portion of the body when the animal is crawling, 

 is raised from the surface on which the animal rests, and its under 

 surface is distinctly arched or concave ; in some of them from the 

 edges of the concave portion sensory, papilla-like prolongations are 

 frequently put forth, which touch the surface on which the animal 

 is crawling, just as is the case with the inferior margin of the 

 cheese-cutter-shaped extremity of Bipalium. In spirit specimens 

 the arching disappears, but the margins of the under surface then 

 show a slight but noticeable ridge on each side of a dijSerent colour; 

 we hope later to investigate these structures by means of sections. 

 Mr. Moseley was the first to describe the cocoons or egg- 

 capsules of land-planarians, which were previously unknown, from 

 specimens brought to him by Mr. Travers of Wellington, N.Z., 

 during the first week of July. His description of them is, " they 

 were perfectly spherical and varied in diameter from 6mm. to 4^ 

 mm., being as large as an ordinary pea. Their walls were firm and 

 resistant, and of very dark brown or almost black colour. The 

 walls are composed of a thin continuous sheet of a dark brown 

 chitinous substance, which is highly elastic, and rolls up into 

 scrolls when torn into fragments. The brown substance shows no 

 definite structure, but only fine granules partly scattered evenly 

 through a homogeneous base, partly gathered into patches in it. 

 The egg capsules were found to contain from 4 to 6 embryos 

 which lay quite free within the cavities of the capsules and closely 

 packed together, being curved up to accommodate themselves to 

 confinement" (I.e. p. 279). 



Australian land-planarians also breed during the winter 

 months, and fabricate similar cocoons. Thus we have met 

 with cocoons from the first week in April up till the 

 present time (end of June). Some of these were deposited by 

 specimens living in confinement, but quite recently one of us in 



