Smith. — Notes on Neio Zealand Earthworms. 127 



i 



and we have no information whatever with regard to the pro 

 cess of fecundation in that genus. It seems likely on a prior 

 grounds that they will prove to he different from those of 

 Lumbricus, owing to the far greater complication of glandular 

 appendages connected with the reproductive ducts." 



Acanthodrilus antarcticus, Beddard. Quart. Jour. Mic. 



Sci., vol. xxx. 



In habits and colour this species closely resembles A. multi- 

 porus. Its smaller size distinguishes it from the larger form, 

 and it is not so common. I find it inhabiting the edge of an 

 old swamp on the south bank of the Ashburton Eiver, and I 

 have also collected a few specimens in other localities. The 

 anatomy of the species is given in the following abstract of 

 Beddard's valuable paper on "New Species of New Zealand 

 Earthworms " : — 



" The seta are disposed in four series of pairs, but the two 

 setas of each pair are not close together as in A. novce-zealan- 

 dice. Setae 1 and 2 are closer together than 3 and 4 ; the 

 distance between 2 and 3 is about equal to that between 

 3 and 4. The prostomium does not completely divide the first 

 segment ; it does in A. novce-zealandice. The first dorsal pore is 

 between segments v. and vi. ; they are not visible upon the cli- 

 tellum. The clitellum, which is distiguishable even in the spirit- 

 specimen by its darker colour, occupies segments xiii. to xvii. 

 The atrial pores are, as usual, situated upon the seventeenth 

 and nineteenth segments on prominent papillae. A longitudinal 

 groove, as in other species, connects the two orifices of each 

 side. The external characters ally this species rather with 

 A. multiporus than with A. novce-zealandice or A. dissimilis ; 

 the distribution of the setae and the characters of the prosto- 

 mium are much the same : it differs in the less extent of the 

 clitellum, and in the fact that the papillae upon which the 

 atrial pores are borne are not so prominent as in A. multiporus ; 

 the prominent atrial papillae are specially characteristic of 

 A. multiporus and also of A. annectens. The internal anatomy 

 of A. antarcticus shows numerous points of resemblance to 

 A. multiporus, though there is no doubt as to its distinctness. 

 "Alimentary Tract. — The pharynx occupies the first four 

 segments; there is a well-developed gizzard in segments vi. 

 and vii. ; in the fourteenth and fifteenth segments the walls of 

 the oesophagus probably represent the calciferous glands of 

 other earthworms; in A. multiporus these glands are found 

 further back, in the seventeenth segment. I have studied the 

 structure of these glands by transverse and longitudinal sec- 

 tions. It appears that they really represent two pairs of 

 glands such as are found, for example, in A. dissimilis, but 

 their apertures into the oesophagus are so large that the glands 



