142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1899. 



tions no Mesenehytro'us from South America in his recent exhaus- 

 tive paper ('96). It is perhaps not so surprising that a member 

 of this seemingly almost Arctic genus should be found amid the 

 snow and ice of a northern glacier. Most of the Arctic species 

 collected by Nordenskjold and described by Eisen were found in 

 3H0SS or under stones. The only mention' which I find in the litera- 

 ture of a similar habitat of an Oligochsete is the following brief 

 passage in Nordenskjold's Gronland ('86, p. 193): "With the 

 exception of a few birds (seen) on the return trip the only animal 

 observed was a worm living on the difierent species of ice alg* 

 and therefore probably belonging to the fauna of the inland ice." 

 This worm has not been described, and if really an Oligochaete, 

 may be identical with Mesenchytrceus solifugus. 



LIST OF PAPEBS REFERRED TO. 



Banks, Nathan. '98. Arachnida from the Malaspina Glacier, 



Alaska. Entomological News, ix, pp. 16, 17. 

 Eisen, Gustav. '78. Redogorelse for Oligoch^eter, samlade 



under de Svenska expeditionema till Arktiskatrakter. Ofvers. 



Kongl. Svenk. Vet. Akad. Forhandl., xxxv (1878), p. 63-79. 

 Eisen, Gustav. '79. The Oligochseta collected during the 



Swedish expeditions to the Arctic regions in the years 1870, 



1875 and 1876. Kongl. Sveusk. Vet. Akad. Handling, xv. 



No. 7, 1879, pp. 49. Plates I-XVI. 

 Emery, Carlo. '98"-. Diagnosi di un nuovo genere e nuova 



specie di Anellidi della famiglia degli Enchytrseidae. Melanen- 



chytrceiis solifvgus. Atti R. Accad- Lincei (5) Rendic. CI. di 



fiss., vii, pp. 110, 111. 

 Emery, Carlo. '98". Sur un Oligochete noir des glacier de 



r Alaska. Bull, de la Societe Zoologique Suisse. Geneve, 



Assemblee generale de Berne, 1898. 



^ The "snow-worms " have been reported by previous explorers of the gla- 

 ciers of Alaska ; by Prof. Wright ('87), from the Muir Glacier, and Prof. 

 Eussell, from the Malaspina Glacier. Prof. Wright has kindly sent me some 

 examples collected by him from shallow pools of water on the ice sheet. 

 They prove to represent bolh 31. solifugus and M. nivus. Prof. Russell 

 ('92) fully confirms Mr. Bryant's account of their habits in the following 

 passage : "In the early morning btfore the sunlight touched the snow its 

 surface was literally covered witli small, slim, black worms, about an inch 

 long, .... These creatures were wriggling on the snow in thousands, but 

 as the sun rose and made its warmth felt they disappeared beneath the sur- 

 face. They are not .^een when the temperature is above freezing." In a 

 letter Prof. Russell adds the interesting information that he bas observed 

 similar worms on the snows of Mt. Rainier, Wash., thus indicating for them 

 a wide distribution. Arctic and Alpitie explorers should be on the watch 

 ior them. 



