136 Transactions. — Zoology, 



When living in deep clayey land, as at the Eangitata Gorge, 

 their burrows have often two distinct mouths, and frequently 

 resemble the letter Y- They work deeper in the mould, usually 

 preferring the clayey subsoil. The dark superficial mould is 

 intermixed with clay, voided in old chambers by the worms. 

 Sometimes the burrow^s run a few inches horizontally at the 

 bottom. I have never observed this species hibernating, but 

 the habit of living in damp clay may account for it not 

 doing so. 



Endrilus (?) levis, Hutton. 



Luvibricus levis, Hutton, " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. ix., p. 351. 



Dygaster (?) levis, Hutton, "N.Z. Journ. of Science," vol. i., p. 586. 



This species abounds plentifully in heaps of rotten dung, or 

 any decayed vegetable matter. It attains its greatest size in 

 the bush, among moist beds of dead leaves, or leaf-mould, when 

 its colour is paler and very distuict. It is also found, as 

 Professor Hutton states, "in gardens and fields," and is "a 

 variable species, sometimes of a greenish hue." If seized with 

 the fingers, or touched in any way, it secretes a yellow fluid 

 having a fetid odour, which is most distasteful to birds. Caged 

 birds will generally reject it if any other food is obtainable. It 

 is common in Peel Forest, in parts where the mould is deepest 

 and moist. It is somewhat sluggish in habit ; and numbers 

 can often be found lying paired beneath slabs of wood, or rotten 

 logs, in which it sometimes bores between the bark and de- 

 caying wood, generally on the under surface. It delights most 

 in wet decomposing manure. I have observed it in a matted 

 mass, in the bottom of an open drain leading from a gentle- 

 man's kitchen, living in the slimy, soapy pulp. After much 

 wet weather, which causes celery to rot in the trenches, they 

 cHng to and nibble at the tender or rotting parts. Where 

 numerous, the rotten celery occasionally partakes of their 

 offensive odour. 



Endrilus (?) annutotus, Hutton. 



Lumbricus annulatm, Hutton, " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. ix., p. 352. 



This species is the commonest form m all the localities 

 where 1 have examined ; it abounds in gardens and pastures, 

 and is met with in almost every quality of laud, from peaty soil 

 on low flats to dry friable loam several thousand feet up the 

 slopes of the ranges ; it increases rapidly as the land becomes 

 broken up. It is a very variable species in colour and size, 

 being met with from pale-pink to browuish-black. When living 

 in peaty soil they are pale, and never attain the size of some 

 specimens living in well-manured gardens. Wlu n heavy rains 

 fall on newly-dug ground, they often have their burrows and 

 move about on the surface, leaving a distu ct track behind them. 

 This species has the habit of lying closer to the mouth of its 



