Smith. — Notes on New Zealand Earthworms. 141 



Family PHREODRILIDiE. 

 Genus Phreodkilus. 

 Phreodrilus subterraneus, Beddard. 



This species was described by Beddard from two specimens 

 obtained from a pipe-well at Ashburton. They were pre- 

 sented to me by Mrs. T. Sealy, who very kindly preserved 

 them alive in fresh water, and sent them to me. I had pre- 

 viously heard of the occurrence of minute worms in the wells 

 on the Plains, but these were the first specimens I obtained. 

 Like the new and peculiar family (Phreatocidce) of Crustacea 

 described by Mr. C. Chilton, F.L.S., from the subterranean 

 water of the Canterbury Plains, Beddard had also to create a 

 new family for its reception, of which the species remains at 

 present the only representative. At present I cannot give any 

 account of its habits, as the extreme difficulty of studying 

 such in a state of nature precludes the possibility of my doing 

 so. Judging, however, from its external structure, and from 

 its habits in a small aquarium, it seems peculiarly fitted for 

 its subterranean aquatic life. Its motions are extremely 

 active in the water, and it moves rapidly through the small in- 

 terstices in the shingle on the bottom of the aquarium. The 

 long setae visible to the naked eye are probably used by the 

 worms as paddles when moving through the water and shingle 

 which they inhabit. The food and breeding-habits of P. sub- 

 terraneus are perhaps a little puzzling at present ; yet they 

 cannot differ very materially from those of other aquatic 

 oligochaetous worms. Many parts of the Canterbury Plains 

 are covered with a stratum of clay varying in thickness from 

 6ft. to 15ft., including the surface-soil. In the normal condi- 

 tion of the subterranean water the lower few feet of the soft 

 clay is saturated, and affords perfect conditions for the worms 

 to pair and deposit their cocoons in it. Decayed logs of wood 

 and other vegetable matter have recently been found imbedded 

 in the clay ; the latter thus intermixed with decaying vegetable 

 substances would, I think, afford good feeding- and breeding- 

 grounds for the species. The following abstract is given from 

 Beddard' s valuable paper oil its anatomical structure : — 



" External Characters. — Each measures about 2in. in 

 length; even when preserved they have a graceful appear- 

 ance, due to the delicate, almost transparent, body-walls, and 

 to the projection of the long setae of the dorsal rows. 

 The characters of the setae alone show that this Annelid 

 conforms to no genus of which we have any adequate descrip- 

 tion. As in the majority of the Tubificidce and the Naido- 

 morpha, the dorsal setae are capilliform ; but in Phreodrilus 

 there is only a single dorsal seta on each side of the body 

 in the posterior segments. The portion implanted in the 



