ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 197 



accompanied by Limnodrilm udekemiwius, which has a striped appear- 

 ance posteriorly, due to a band of yellow or orange pigment in each 

 segment. Both worms hide themselves when the vessel in which they 

 are kept is jarred, but only Tulnfex responds in this way to a bright 

 beam of light. 



The red colour of Tubifex is due to the blood shining through. The 

 setae are capilliform, uncinate, and pectinate. Lankester's webbed setae 

 were not found. The body-wall has the usual layers — cuticle, epidermis, 

 circular muscles, longitudinal muscles, and peritoneal epithelium. The 

 clitellar gland-cells are described. 



The coelomic fluid contains spherical and amoeboid corpuscles. The 

 chloragogen cells of the gut have large nuclei, missed by some observers. 

 These cells seem to become very inert in the adult ; their function, if 

 any, is probably excretory. The blood is a red non-corpusculated fluid. 

 The vessels are carefully described, and the nervous and excretory 

 systems. 



The animal is hermaphrodite and fully mature from October to 

 December. The first cocoons are laid about the beginning of November. 

 A full description is given of the intricate reproductive system, and of 

 the oogenesis and spermatogenesis. There are two kinds of spermatozoa. 

 The spermatophores are visible to the naked eye, and when first liberated 

 from the spermatheca appear as small, fine, white, glistening bodies, the 

 largest being about 1-2 mm. in length. They have a complicated struc- 

 ture, largely due to the shape of the spermathecal duct and its aperture. 

 The cocoons are made of a fibrous substance secreted by the clitellum ; 

 they may contain one egg or up to fourteen eggs. To Tubifex there are 

 often attached groups of Vorticellids and clusters of fungus filaments. 

 A primitive cestode, Ckiryophyllseus, occurs in the coelom in the summer 

 months, and there are several other parasites. 



Earthworms from Dutch New Guinea.* — L. Cognetti de Martiis 

 describes Pheretima maxima sp. n., a giant form, 450 mm. in length, 

 with a diameter of about 20 mm. and 108 segments. The setie are 

 in continuous rings, about 200 on segments vi. to x., and about 180 on 

 segments xvii. to xxvi. Another form, P. utakivana sp. n., was found 

 at an elevation of 10,000 feet. 



New Earthworm from Congo. f—H. A. Baylis gives an account of 

 the structure of Dichogai^ter jaculatrix sp. n. from the Ituri forest region. 

 It is brightly coloured, 18 to 34 cm. in length, and when irritated or 

 squeezed squirts jets of fluid from its dorsal pores. The spermatheca^ 

 have one to three small sessile diverticula visible externally, and usually 

 contain spermatophores of characteristic forms with a capsule and 

 trumpet-shaped ttibe. A detailed description is given of the sperma- 

 theca and the spermatophore. The author remarks on the difficulty of 

 understanding the advantage of enclosing the sperm in an elaborately 

 formed case. 



* Trans. Zool. Soc, 1915, pp. 493-6 (1 fig.). 



+ Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xvi. (1915) pp. 449-65 (7 figs.). 



April 19th, 1916 p 



