1S98.] Friend. — New Irish A^inclids. 197 



Specimens of this worm were received from Murlock Wood, Jul)', 1897, 

 through the kind offices of Dr. Trumbull, On August ist, 1896, I also 

 received specimens from Mr. Hart, of Howth, which I assign to this 

 species, although the diverticula were not stalked, and one was a great 

 deal larger than the rest. The setse were six in a bundle in front, and 

 four behind. Either these various species are subject to wide differences 

 in details, or we have yet a great deal to do to analyse them and fix 

 their permanent characters. One difficulty which meets the student is 

 due to the fact that many book-descriptions are based upon characters 

 drawn from material which had been preserved — often ver}' indifferently 

 — whereas the appearance of the living worm is totally different. There 

 is almost as much difference between a living worm and one kept for a 

 time in preservatives, as between a living nautilus and a fossil ammonite. 

 Beddard has truly said that what is needed is the full and careful study 

 of living material. 



Buchholzia fallax, Michaelsen. 



"Definition. Length 10 mm.; setse, 4-6 per bundle of different 

 lengths. Sexual organs occupying the usual situations [unlike B. 

 appendiciilatns\ ; spermathecae with diverticula near to distal swollen 

 extremity, two large glands at external pore." Beddard, Monograph, 



334- 



I found this interesting worm on the shores of Lough Neagh, June, 



1896, and have also taken it in Cumberland at Lodore and Lowther. In 

 some of my[specimens I find unpaired internal glands in those segments, 

 which, according to Michaelsen, produce papilke having the appearance 

 of outgrowths of the epidermis, or imperforate penes. To fully under- 

 stand the structure of these minute, but complicated, creatures it is 

 necessary to study frcvsh material collected at different seasons of the 

 year, as the appearances at one season vary greatly from those of 

 another, according as the worm reaches maturity, or otherwise. 



I have not the good fortune to possess the memoir in which Michaelsen 

 describes the species under review, but Beddard points out that "the 

 setse of each bundle are of unequal sizes, and are so arranged that the 

 longest setse of the ventral bundles come nearest to the longest setae of 

 the lateral bundles." This will be best understood by reference to the 

 diagram. I may, however, point out that, so far as my observation goes, 

 the setae in the posterior portion of the body, as in many Fridericias, are 

 practically equal in length, while those in the anterior, as in Fridericias 

 also, are unequal. There are usually four setse in each bundle 

 posteriorly, and six in the anterior portion of the body. 



Ocker Hill, Tipton, Staffordshire. 



