192 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Having been much interested in these animals in Victoria, 

 I have naturally been on the look-out for them since my 

 arrival in New Zealand, and I have recently found two speci- 

 mens of an indigenous land nemertine, not, unfortunately, 

 in their native habitat, but put away in spirits amongst col- 

 lections of land planarians. 



The first specimen I found in a small jar of land planarians 

 collected in various unspecified localities in New Zealand, and 

 most kindly given to me by Mr. Suter. The presence of only 

 four eyes in this specimen, and the characteristic arrange- 

 ment of alternate dark and light bands on the dorsal surface, 

 clearly indicated that it was specifically distinct from Geo- 

 nemertes australiensis, although the sections (cut by the usual 

 paraffin method) showed a close agreement in general ana- 

 tomical features. Unfortunately the proboscis was missing,, 

 it haviug been doubtless everted and broken off, as so fre- 

 quently happens when nemertines are placed in alcohol. 



Thinking that there might possibly be specimens of land 

 nemertines similarly put away amongst other worms in the 

 Canterbury Museum, I appealed to Captain Hutton, who 

 immediately looked through the collection of worms in spirit 

 for me, and gave me a bottle labelled, " Land Planarians, 

 Toitoi, Southland ; Miss J. G. Eich." For this and much 

 other kind assistance of a similar nature I desire to express 

 my great indebtedness to Captain Hutton. 



On examining this small collection of laud planarians 

 from Toitoi I found another specimen of Geonemertes, with 

 the pattern on the dorsal surface much fresher-looking and 

 more distinct, but otherwise identical with Mr. Suter's speci- 

 men. Moreover, in this case, the proboscis, although it had 

 been everted and cast off, was found in the bottle. 



Thanks to the discovery of this second specimen, I am 

 now in a position to give a sufficient description of this New 

 Zealand land nemertine to serve for purposes of specific 

 determination, and I propose to name it 



Geonemertes novae-zealandise, n. sp. 



The larger specimen (in spirit) was a little less than lin. 

 in length and about £in. in diameter. It was nearly oval 

 in transverse section, but somewhat flattened ventrally, ter- 

 minating bluntly in front and behind, and with an aperture 

 at each extremity. The surface was transversely wrinkled, 

 more strongly dorsally than ventrally. Two dark spots, one 

 at either side of the blunt anterior extremity, seemed to 

 indicate the position of the eyes, but these, being deeply im- 

 bedded, were not clearly visible until sections were cut. 



The colour was pale, dull yellow, with alternate light and 

 dark longitudinal bands faintly visible on the dorsal surface, 



