254 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. V, No. 3, 



task before collectors is to show whether this territorial gap can- 

 not be filled in; and if it is filled in, to ascertain whether the 

 southern specimens have even a varietal dift'erence from the 

 northern type rixosus. The crowding of the mandibular incisors 

 so that the second one is forced to take a position posterior to the 

 others, which has been noted in some of the southern specimens, 

 "can be found in many examples of any species"* and accord- 

 ingly cannot be diagnostic of any one. Unless some substantial 

 difference is found, the name allegheniensis will ultimately have 

 to retreat, and all the specimens be called rixosus. 



However, while this task is in progress, we may very properly 

 make the most of this rare and beautiful addition to our local 

 fauna, and let the designation stand as allegheniensis. 



* Bangs, loc. cit. p. 12. The second lower incisors are so displaced in the Oberlin 

 specimen. 



Oberlin, O. 



A LAND PLANARIAN IN OHIO.* 



L. B. Walton. 



The Land Planarians form a subdivision of the class Turbel- 

 laria which together with the Trematoda (parasitic flukes), and 

 Cestoda (tape worms) constitute the phylum Platyhelminthes or 

 flat worms. With a very few exceptions the planarians living a 

 terrestrial life are tropical forms, only 7 of the 348 species now 

 known to science being found in the palseartic (European sub- 

 region) and neartic regions. Of these a single species, excluding 

 Platocephalus keivensis an introduced form occuring in hot houses, 

 has been described from the United States. This species, 

 Rhynchodemus sylvaiictis, was established by Leidy in 1851 based 

 on five specimens collected in Philadelphia. 



The occurence of a species of Rhynchodemus at Gambler, 

 Ohio, differing in many particulars from the form to which Leidy 

 called attention is in consequence of considerable interest. Five 

 representatives of this species were found on the partially decayed 

 stem of a Virginia creeper July 9, 1904, near Bexley Hall. A 

 somewhat more extended study and a comparison, if possible, 

 with the type of R. sylvaticus will undoubtedly show the relation- 

 shit) between the two forms. 



* Read before the Ohio State Academy of Science, Nov. 26, 1904. 



Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. 



