Benham. — On New Species of Earthioorms. 277 



by me in 1900 will show. There is, however, a special in- 

 terest attaching to both these species, since they agree more 

 closely with the species of Notiodrilus found at the Cape 

 of Good Hope and at South Georgia, Falkland Islands, and 

 Tierra del Fuego, than they do with the species of the genus 

 •occurring in New Zealand itself. 



For explanation of the figures, see pp. 289, 290. 



Art. XXXI. — On the Old and some Neiv Species of Earth- 

 worms belonging to the Genus Plagiochgeta. 



By W. Blaxland Benham, Professor of Biology, University 



of Otago. 

 [Read before the Otago Institute, 14th October, 1902.] 

 Plates XXII.-XXVI. 

 During the four years in, which I have resided in New Zea- 

 land I have been accumulating a considerable number of 

 •earthworms collected in various parts of New Zealand. 

 Amongst other friends and gentlemen who have been good 

 enough to make collections for me, or to send me those 

 worms already in their collections, I have to thank Captain 

 Hutton, who placed his collection at my disposal ; Pro- 

 fessor Dendy; Mr. H. B. Kirk; Mr. W. W. Smith, who on 

 several occasions has, at my request, sent me particular 

 species, and constantly sends me material as he meets with 

 it ; Mr. H. Suter, and others whose names appear in the fol- 

 lowing communications. I have as yet had time only to ex- 

 amine critically a small proportion of this material, and I have 

 devoted this article to the description of four new species of 

 Plagiochceta, together with remarks on Captain Hutton's 

 species. As in a previous article, I here deal only with cha- 

 racters rendered evident by dissection. I reserve certain in- 

 teresting and important details of microscopic structure for 

 another paper. 



It will be seen that the new species of the genus differ in 

 various characters from the original species, and it will pro- 

 bably be necessary to subdivide the genus. But for the pre- 

 sent I use the term " Plagiochceta " in a wide sense, to include 

 endemic earthworms, which differ from typical Acanthodrilids 

 {Notiodrilus, Maoridrilus) and from Octochcetus in possessing 

 numerous chaetae on each segment in place of the more usual 

 eight. But it seems desirable to await further research in 

 greater detail before the genus is subdivided. This matter, 

 however, I hope to deal with in a forthcoming article else- 

 where. 



