HKITISH ANNELIDS. 173 



species, which it has been possible to analyse carefully, a definite 

 title. The name now before us has been in use for half a century, 

 l)ut it was lost during the dark middle ages of this century, and has 

 only now begun to resume its rightful position. It is somewhat 

 difficult for anyone but an expert to distinguish this species from the 

 foregoing. They are very closely related, but in England at least, 

 whatever may be the case on the Continent, they are capable of being 

 treated as distinct species. The Trapeze Worm is larger than its 

 fellow, the shape is somewhat different, the number of segments 

 usually greater, and the puberty band extends, even in the case of the 

 not yet mature worm, over three consecutive segments, namely, 31, 

 32, ;^;^. A slimy mucus is exuded as in the case of the Turgid Worm, 

 but there is seldom, if ever, a solid substance deposited. It is fre- 

 quently found mixed up with the last, and in fact with any or all of 

 the foregoing. 



My Essex specimens are from Bush Wood, Debden Slade, Epping 

 Forest, and Plaistow. The only other worm which is at present 

 known to belong to this group in Great Britain is the Welsh Worm 

 {A. cambrica, Friend), which has some of the characters of the Green 

 Worm, along with others of the Mucous Worm. I include it for the 

 guidance of collectors in the table following, though it has not, up till 

 the present, reached me from Essex. 



This is the most complete account that has yet been published 

 of this group, and I should like my next instalment to be equally 

 full. This, however, cannot be, unless several members residing in 

 the country will examine fallen trees, decaying timber, old leaf 

 manure, and other vegetable debris, and send me the results. There 

 are half-a-dozen species of worms belonging to the Dendrobaenic 

 group, and as several of them have been sent to me in large quan- 

 tities from Norfolk and Sussex, the bulk of them, if not all, will occur 

 in Essex. Living worms should be sent in tin boxes with soft moss, 

 not tighdy packed, but sufficiently well filled to keep the worms from 

 being damaged in transit, and addressed 4, The Grove, Idle, 

 Bradford. • 



[For Tabular view of the Mucida group of Allolobophora see the 

 following page.] 



