A LAND PLANARIAN IN OHIO^* 



The Land Planarians form a subdivision of the class 

 Turbellaria which together with the Trematoda (parasitic 

 flukes), and Cestoda (tape worms) constitute the phylum 

 Platyhelminthes or flat worms. With a very few ex- 

 ceptions the planarians living a terrestrial Hfe are tropical 

 forms, only 7 of the 348 species now known to science 

 being found in the palseartic (European subregion) and 

 neartic regions. Of these a single species, excluding 

 Platocephahis kewensis an introduced form occurring in 

 hot houses, has been described from the United States. 

 This species, Khynchodemus sylvaticus, was established by 

 Leidy in 18 51 based on five specimens collected in Phila- 

 delphia. 



The occurrence of a species of Rhynchodemus at Gam- 

 bier, Ohio, differing in many particulars from the form 

 to which Leidy called attention is in consequence of con- 

 siderable 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 ex- 

 tended study and a comparison, if possible, with the type 

 of K. sylvaticus will undoubtedly show the relationship 

 between the two forms. 



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



♦Reprinted from The Ohio 'Naturalist, vol. 5 (1905), p. 254. 



