608 NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN EARTHWORMS, 



large living worms when fully extended ai'e orer 2ft. long. A 

 dozen r.ither contracted spirit specimens are from 20-25 cm. long, 

 with a breadth of 19-24 mm. Number of segments about 200. 



In living specimens four differently coloui-ed regions may be recog- 

 nised, (1) the flesh-coloured preclitellar region, (2) the yellower 

 inclining almost to orange clitellum, (3) the greater part of the 

 remainder of the body ]iurplish or bluish white or grey, the inter- 

 segmental furrows purplish, (4) a posterior region tinged with 

 brown ; spirit specimens may appear more or less tinged with 

 brown throughout. 



Body cj'lindrical ; when strongly contracted both extremities 

 very obtuse ; when extended tapering steadily anteriorly from 

 about segment ix forward. 



Pi'ostomium slightly depressed, divides the buccal ring for al^out 

 I, marked with two or three longitudinal grooves anteriorly and 

 inferiorly so as to give it a ribbed appearance. The buccal ring 

 ribbed all round. Up to about the ninth the segments become 

 gradually broader (from before backwards), after xiii diminishing 

 again for a few segments and then remaining constant ; the second 

 segment bi-annulate, the rest triannulate, but in the first three or 

 four of these the anterior annular groove uiore or less incomplete 

 and less conspicuous than the posterior one ; the preclitellar 

 segments especially in the region where the mesenteries are thick, 

 better defined, broader and more distinctly annulate, the body- 

 wall in this region enormously thick and muscular. 



Setfe of the ordinary character, stouter and a little longer 

 (0 66 mm.) than in the preceding species, the free portion faintly 

 cii-cularly striate ; in eight longitudinal rows of which the inner- 

 most on each side is about 2 mm. from the median ventral line; the 

 second on each side 2mm. from the first; the third on each side 

 about 4 mm. from the second ; the sette of these six rows, which 

 are straight and fairly parallel, a little closer together in the 

 anterior portion of the body ; the fourth row on each side in 

 nearly every specimen variably sinuous, sometimes extremely so, 

 the setaa from 3-8 mm. from the corresponding ones of the third 



