I90 The Irish Naturalist. [August, 



The Medicinal leech and the Horse-leech deposit their eggs 

 in cocoons, whilst the snail-leeches fix their eggs to the 

 ventral surface of their parents' bod}^ There they are 

 hatched, and the young cling to the parent for some time 

 afterwards by means of their posterior suckers. 



I have been liberally supplied with specimens of Irish 

 freshwater leeches, especially by the Right Hon. lyord 

 Clonbrock, Messrs. C I<angham, R. Welch, H. L,. Jameson, 

 J. N. Halbert and others, and by the Royal Irish Academy 

 Fauna and Flora Committee. All these specimens are now 

 in the natural histor}' collections of the Dublin Science and 

 Art Museum. Mr. H. L- Jameson assisted me very materially 

 in drawing up this account of the Irish freshwater leeches by 

 writing out a complete catalogue of the specimens contained 

 in our Museum collection. 



The following is a list of the more important papers and 

 books referred to, some of which deal with the Irish fresh- 

 water leeches. These will be referred in the text by their 

 numbers : — 



1. Apathy, S., Siisswasser-Hirudineen, Zool. /ahrbUcher {Abtk. f. syst,^ 



vol. iii., 1888. 



2. Blanchard, R., Hirudinees de I'ltaUe. Boll. Mus. Torino^ vol. 9, 



1894. 



3. Houghton, W., Remarks on the Glossiphonidse, Quart. J. Micr. 



Science, vol i. (N.S.), 1861. 



4. "Snail Leeches," with a monograph of the Brit, species. 



Intellectual Observer^ vol. viii. 1865. 



5. Johnston, G., A Catalogue of the British Non-parasital Worms in 



the British Museum, 1865. 



6. Moquin-Tandon, a., Mouographie de la famille des Hirudinees, 



Paris, 1846. 



7. TemplBTON, R., Observations on Aulustoma heluo. Ann. and Ma^. 



Nat. Hist. (5) vol. viii., 1878. 



8. Thompson, W., Natural History of Ireland, vol. 4, 1856. 



9. Additions to the Fauna of Ireland. Ann. and Mag. Nat. 



Hist, (i.) vol. xviii, 



RHYNCHOBDELLJE. 



FaMIIvY ICHTHYOBDEI^IvID^. 



Pisclcola gcomctra (L.) 

 In this species as in all the members of the family, the body is con- 

 stricted in front, and the two suckers are almost separated from the body. 

 The latter are large and cup-shaped, the posterior larger than the anterior. 

 There are four eyes situated on the anterior sucker. It is flesh-coloured 



