186 Transactions. — Zoology. 



the species above mentioned ; but more probably they were- 

 not obtained from these Islands.* 



In view, therefore, of the very scanty information as to 

 this group of animals in our Islands, it was with very great 

 interest that I received from Mr. L. Cockayne, of Christ- 

 church, seven specimens of a leech of considerable size which 

 had been collected by Mr. Dunlop, late of Orepuki, during 

 a botanical and zoological excursion made by these gentlemen 

 to Open Bay Island, off the west coast of the South Island. 



These leeches were discovered in a way that suggests why 

 it is that these animals have not been hitherto discovered by 

 collectors. It appears that Mr. Dunlop was searching for 

 insects known as " wetas " under soft tussock-grass in the 

 burrows formed by "mutton-birds" {Pujfimcs sp.). The 

 burrows were in quite moist earth on a hillside, and while 

 plucking up the tufts of grass and groping amongst the roots, 

 which were imbedded m swampy soil, he felt a bite on his 

 wrist. Fortunately, Mr. Dunlop is keenly interested in 

 natural history, and he carefully withdrew his hand and 

 found a leech attached thereto. He proceeded to examine 

 the nest further, with the result that he found six more 

 individuals and some cocoons. 



From this account, given to me verbally by Mr. Dunlop, I 

 imagined that we had to do with a land-leech, but examma- 

 tion of the specimens shows that it belongs to an aquatic 

 genus — at any rate, a genus all the species of which, hitherto 

 described, live in water or marshy places — viz., Hirudo. I 

 was certainly scarcely prepared to find this widely spread 

 genus in New Zealand. It is to it that the medicinal leech 

 of Europe and Japan and elsewhere belongs, and one would 



* Since writing this article I have received a letter from Mr. Moore, 

 dated 19Lh November, 1903, as follows :— 



" Since returning to Philadelphia I have re-examined the land-leeches 

 attributed to New Zealand, and find that my former identification is 

 correct, so far as one can be certain from comparison with Grube's de- 

 scriptions and figures alone. 



"I have traced all clues known to mc which might throw light on 

 the authenticity of the label. No one recognises the handwriting, and 

 no trace can be found of the few notes on annelids made by Professor 

 Dana while on the Wilkes Expedition ; nor is there any mention in the 

 narrative or reports of the Expedition of any land-leeches encountered 

 either in Australia or New Zealand. The notes wore at one time in the 

 possession of [a gentleman] who, so Professor Verrill informs me, became 

 insane as the result of a sunstroke during the Civil War, and has been 

 confined for many years in an asylum. 



" As I understand that errors in locality were frequent on the labels 

 accompanying the Wilkes collections, and considering all the circum- 

 stances, it seems probable that the specimens were collected at Sydney, one 

 of the stopping-places of the Expedition. In any event, I now consider 

 them as valueless in establishing the occurrence of the species in New 

 Zealand. — Very truly yours, "J. Percy Mooee." 



