BY J. J. FLETCHER, M.A., B.SC. 551 



The nervous system calls at present for no special comment. 



Hab. The rich soil of Burrawang in the county of Camden, 

 N.S.W. j at present I know of no other locality. 



3. JSIOTOSCOLEX GRAND1S, n. sp. 



(Plate VIII, Fig. 6.) 



In its external characters, leaving out of consideration the 

 clitellurn and the setae, this worm looks at first sight very like a 

 large edition of N. Canidenensis, the anterior segments being more 

 completely divided and subdivided into annuli. These big worms 

 are much less numerous, and in winter are so often devoid of a 

 clitellurn, that, before I had dissected any of them, I used to wonder 

 whether they weie not simply the aged and patriarchal forms of 

 the preceding species, which had ceased to breed, but I found on 

 •dissection that the reproductive organs, though the testes are small 

 both relatively and absolutely for the size of the worm, were not 

 correspondingly atrophied. Though allied they are correctly 

 referable to different species, the characteristic points of difference 

 between them apart from the size, having to do with the clitellurn, 

 the setae, the alimentary canal, the spei mathecae, and the more 

 marked annulation of the most anterior segments. 



It is somewhat difficult to extract these large worms from the 

 ground without injury to them, hence some of my largest examples 

 are in a fragmentary condition. A whole specimen preserved in 

 good spirit measures — length 76 cm., breadth 11 mm., length of 

 preclitellar region 36 mm., length of clitellurn 20 nrn. Three 

 softer specimens preserved in weaker spirit are less contracted, and 

 measure from 76 to 106 cm., (30 to 42 inches.) 



The body is cylindrical, tapering very slightly anteriorly, more 

 so posteriorly, both extremities rather obtuse. The prostomium 

 small, flat, hardly projecting beyond the buccal segment, marked 

 anteriorly and inferiorly with about five or more longitudinal 

 grooves, not embedded in the buccal ring. Mouth and anus 

 terminal. The segments are widest (some of them as from 



