THE BIONOMICS OF ENGLISH OLIGOCHiETA 17 



confidential, and are published solely for the use of the Com- 

 mittee ; but it is not too much to hope that in time the Board 

 will authorise the scientific investigation, among other things, 

 of the vast number of Pachydrilids which are to be found in 

 the localities under their direction. 



It is not without interest to note in this connection that 

 the common worm frequently known as the gilt-tail or lesser 

 brandling (Dendrobsena subrubicunda Eisen) is found in 

 association with Pachydrilus among sewage, alike in Chicago 

 and in Manchester, while nematodes, springtails, watermites, 

 and the larvae of sundry gnats and flies are equally so found. 



Among the annelids recently examined by me in clinkers 

 from the percolating filter beds at the Staleybridge and Du- 

 kinfield Sewage Works were Lumbricus rubellus Hoffm., D. 

 subrubicunda Eisen, Allurus tetrsedrus Sav., Enchytrseus 

 minimus Br., and L. lineatus O.F.M. Of special interest also 

 is the fact already noted that the series of the latter was so 

 large and varied that one could find specimens which agreed 

 on the one hand with the typical lineatus, and on the other 

 with verrucosus, while the extremes were joined by other 

 specimens representing all the intermediate stages. It would 

 thus appear that verrucosus may be merely an extreme form of 

 lineatus. Since, therefore, lineatus is in all probability, as 

 Michaelsen has shown (4), the earliest name, verrucosus and 

 other later species may have to be subordinated to it as varieties 

 and sub-species. 



The Genus Marionina. — Thus far our attention has been 

 mainly directed to the study of the genus Lumbricillus, and 

 it is a significant fact, which in the future will demand much 

 more attention than it has hitherto received, that the related 

 genus Marionina is not as a rule so intimately associated with 

 decaying vegetable matter as with the soil. Again and again 

 one finds such sentences as " Unter Steinen am Meeresstrande " 

 in German accounts of the different species of Marionina. One 

 species, indeed, is found, as its name (M. sphagnetorum Vejd.) 

 implies, in mossy moorlands, and Southern informs us (9) that 

 " this interesting species is a characteristic member of the 

 alpine fauna of Ireland. It is almost invariably to be found 

 in the soil of moors and hills above 500 feet." Concerning M. 

 glandulosa Mich, it is written — " Im wasserdurchtrankten 

 Detritus an Flussufern," and M. lobata Bret, is stated to occur 



