624 TASMANIAN LAND PLANARIANS, 



Hah. — Table Cape, Tasmania (Mr. H. Stuart Dove and Mr. 

 Easton). 



In spirit the yellow colour dissolves, leaving the body white, 

 the brown lines remaining unchanged. 



From the description alone this species might be confused with 

 the three-lined form of G. mediolineata, Dendy (4, p. 77), but it 

 is readily distinguished by its totally different shape and by the 

 very central position of the group of lines. 



Geoplana Tasmaniana (Darwin). 

 (PL xli., figs. 3 and 4.) 



Planaria Tasmaniana, Darwin (1, p. 244) ; Geoplana Tasmaniana, 

 Fletch. &Hamil.,( 2 ,p. 361), Dendy ( 6 , p. 178; 7, p. 369; 8 , p. 421), 

 Graff (10, p. 370); Geoplana balfouri, Graff (10, p. 375, PL v., figs. 

 31-33). Other references are given by the authors cited above. 



In 1844 Darwin (1, p. 244) somewhat meagrely described this 

 species, the only one with which he met in Tasmania. For many 

 years no further land planarians appear to have been collected in 

 Tasmania until in 1893 Dendy (6, p. 178) gave a full description, 

 amongst other species, of a form which he considered to be 

 identical with that originally made known by Darwin. Graff (10, 

 pp. 370 and 375), having material sent by Dendy before him, 

 concludes that the latter was mistaken in his identification, and 

 accordingly renames Dendy 's specimens as Geoplana balfouri, 

 leaving Darwin's species as unverified. 



Now the planarian identified by Dendy as G. Tasmaniana is 

 probably the commonest and most widely spread species occurring 

 in Tasmania, and, so far as my knowledge goes, the only one at 

 all referable to Darwin's description, and it is rather improbable 

 that the one species collected by Darwin on the occasion of a 

 casual visit, and mentioned by him as "frequent," should be a 

 form never since met with. 



After carefully studying a large series of examples sent to me 

 by Mr. Dove from Trevallyn Hills near Launceston, and from 

 Table Cape, which certainly belong to the species dealt with by 

 Dendy as G. Tasmaniana, and figured by Graff as G. balfouri, I 





