BY THOS. STEEL. 121 



Type in Australian Museum, Sydney; register number G. 1517. 



Hah. — Navua River, Viti Levu, Fiji. In a compost heap made 

 up of sugar-mill refuse. {Mr. F. W. Steel.) 



This very small species was found burrowing in a heap of 

 compost, which seems rather a curious haljitat for a planarian. 

 It is remarkable as being still smaller than G. parva, mihi, from 

 Queensland, and in being, Mr. Fletcher informs me, the first 

 Geoplaiia described from any of the South Pacific Islands. 



Rhynchodemus scriptus, n.sp. 

 (PL VII., fig. 11.) 



Description of spirit preserved specimens : — The ground colour 

 of the dorsal surface a very pale shade of brown. Anterior tip 

 dark brown, running into a bold band on either side, which 

 quickly diffuses backward into a marginal line composed of 

 minute crooked and branching stipplings or marks. These lines 

 continue down the margins, rather plainly defined until they 

 coalesce at the hinder extremity, starting just behind the meeting 

 of the bold brown bands; at the anterior tip there is a similar 

 pair of dorso-medial bands; these start from a common point and 

 run backwards to near the posterior end where they join, thus 

 enclosing a median space of ground colour. Like the marginal 

 Viands, the dorso-medial ones are composed of minute irregular 

 markings which, under the microscope, somewhat resemble 

 Oriental written characters. Towards the anterior end of the 

 bands these markings are somewhat crowded together and of 

 darker colour, making this part more strongly marked. In colour 

 the markings composing these bands vary from pale rufous to very 

 dark brown. The central and intermediate spaces of ground 

 colour are lightly speckled with markings similar to those com- 

 posing the bands. In some specimens the medial bands tend to 

 coalesce inwards to form a very broad, sparse, exceedingly irregular 

 band. 



Ventral surface somewhat irregularly peppered with speckles 

 similar to those on dorsal surface, which are usually more or less 



