148 Tranmctions of the Society. 



Michaelsen remarks, "durch Verschleppung nahezu kosmopolitisch," 

 and Mic7"oscolex jjliosphorevs (Ant. Duges), also a " yielfach versch- 

 leppte Art." It is probable tliat if the various specimens hitherto 

 reported under these two headings were subjected to a critical 

 examination, it would be found that several species have been 

 recorded under one name. 



My reason for this statement is based on the fact that my 

 most recent researches show that our alien Annelid fauna is very 

 little known. From many parts of the country collections have 

 reached me which show that a oood deal of work remains to be 

 done, and if a systematic examination of all the worms found at 

 Kew, Chelsea, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgli, as well as in those 

 districts in which foreign bulbs and other plants are grown under 

 glass or in market gardens, we should add greatly to our know- 

 ledge of an interesting and useful subject. In support of this 

 statement, I propose to submit details of a new species of Oligochajt 

 worm found in this country. It is of more than ordinary interest 

 because it is the first time tliat any representative of the genus has 

 been found in Europe. 



I. — Historical Survey. 



The genus Kerria was created by Beddard in 1892 (7).* "Mr. 

 J. Graham Kerr," he writes, " who accompanied the Pilcomayo 

 Expedition in 1890, has kindly given me a number of small 

 Oligochseta wliicli he collected in the upper reaches of that 

 river. . . The water where they were met with was exceedingly salt 

 and bitter, but contained a number of other animals, notably a few 

 decapod Crustaceans. So far as I am aware, no Oligocha^te of any 

 kind has ever been described from a locality like the present, 

 except a species of Pachydrihis, referred to by Semper as occurring 

 in the brine-springs of Kissingen in Germany. Salt water is not, 

 however, entirely inimical to the existence of 01igoch?eta, for there 

 are a few species known from the sea-shore." After describing 

 the worm, the writer concludes that " it will be necessary to 

 institute a separate genus for this Acanthodriloid worm from the 

 Pilcomayo, and I propose to call it Kerria, after Mr. Graham Kerr, 

 with the specific name halophila." 



Perhaps no one has done more to extend our knowledge of the 

 genus than Eosa, whose various contributions to the Bulletins of 

 the Turin Museum (7) may be consulted with advantage. We 

 owe to him the discovery of some half-dozen species of Kerria, 

 in or about 1895, while Eisen (-?) and Michaelsen (o) have still 

 further extended our knowledge of the genus. Beddard's Mono- 

 graph (2) shows that four species of Kerria had been re€ognized in 



* The figures within brackets refer to the Bibliography at the end of the paper. 



