72 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



delicate, glistening, translucent secretion. Some of the unfinished tubes 

 are like those of Sfirorbis, and spiral tubes have been recorded for Stre- 

 blosoma cochleatum Sars and a few other related forms. 



Echiuroids of Chilka Lake and of the Gangetic Delta.* — N. 

 Annandale and Stanley Kemp describe Tlialassemadendrorltynclms sp. n. 

 from Chilka Lake and T. branchiorhynckus sp. n. from the Gangetic 

 delta. The first is closely related to T. sabiniim from Tale Sap, a 

 lagoon in Lower Siam. The three live in peculiarly dense mud and 

 belong to a group typified by T. neptuni Gaertner (the type species of the 

 genus) ; they are characterized by the comparatively simple nature of 

 the anal trees, by the possession of two pairs of nephridia, and by the 

 undivided sheath of longitudinal muscles. The structure of the pro- 

 boscis in the three species is peculiar, and this is perhaps associated with 

 their haliitat. The excavations are made not by the proboscis only, but 

 by Ijody and proboscis ; and the proboscis has probably a respiratory as 

 well as a muscular and nutritive function, for the dendi'itic outgrowths 

 of its margin or ventral surface are gill-like, and are so situated that all 

 the water wliich entei'S t)ie mouth must first pass over tliem. 



New Earthworms. t — Frank Smith and Elizabeth M. Gittins give 

 a description of Helodrihis {Bimastus) zeteki sp. n. and H. (Bmastus) 

 longicinctns sp. n., both from Illinois, and discuss the affinities of the 

 two species. Frank Smith % describes new varieties of Helodrilus 

 {Bimastus) giesehri and Diplocardia sinf/ularis, and gives a useful 

 diagnostic key of the described species of Lumbricidte from Illinois, 

 excepting two species of Fherefima. The most abundant species of 

 earthworm in long-settled parts of the United States is Helodrilus 

 caliginosus trapezoides ; in the prairie soil of Central Illinois Diplor.ardia 

 communis (with a double dorsal blood-vessel) is very common ; another 

 common form in cultivated regions is Octolasium lacteum ; and the 

 European Lumbricus terrestris occurs locally, probably by introduction. 



New Marine Leech. § — W. Harold Leigh-Sharpe describes Gany- 

 viedebdeUa cratere g. et sp. n., one of the Ichthyobdellidse, which was 

 taken near St. Margaret's Hope towards the north-east of S. Ronaldsay 

 in the Orkney Islands. It was taken from a fish which was probably an 

 immature male specimen of CalUonymus lyra, the dragonet. The 

 generic characters are stated as follows : — A leech divided in a very 

 marked manner into a short neck and a very flattened abdomen. Each 

 *' complete " segment of the abdomen consists of sis annuli, but only 

 the first six are so divided. Along tlie side of the abdomen are three 

 pairs of respiratory vesicles. There are two cieca. There are no seminal 

 vesicles. There are no blackish-brown star-shaped pigment cells. There 

 is no special development of the reproductive system. 



As to specific characters, the author notes that the anterior sucker is 



* Mem. Indian Museum, v. (1915) pp. 57-63 (3 figs.). 



t BuU. Illinois State Lab. Nat. Hist., x. (1915) pp. 545-50. 



J BuU. Illinois State Lab. Nat. Hist., x. (1915) pp. 551-9 (1 pi.). 



§ Parasitology, iii. (1915) pp. 1-10 (6 figs.). 



