BRITISH WELL-WORMS. 7 



with two setae. Finally, after ha^-ing considered one or two 

 points connected with the reproductive system, into which I need 

 not enter, Mr. Beddard concludes as follows : — " All arguments, 

 therefore, appear to me to point to the conclusion that Phreoryctes 

 is, in respect of its reproductive organs, the most primitive type. 

 . . . There is no type, in fact, in my opinion, which has such 

 good claims to occupy a low {i.e., archaic or early) position 

 among the Oligochaeta as Phreoryctes. It will be remembered 

 also that this genus is one which was placed by Lankester in a 

 position intermediate between the ' Limicola' ' (ov aquatic 

 worms) and the ' Terricolae ' (or earthworms) of Claparede ; and 

 it does, undoubtedly, combine the characters of the.se two groups. 

 It is also a form which, as regards habitat, is on the border line 

 between the two divisions ; it lives both in the water and on the 

 land. I look upon Phreoiyctes as representing more than any 

 other existing form, the common type whence the Megadrili 

 (Earthworms or Terricola^) and the Microdrili (Waterworms, 

 aquatic annelids, or Limicolae) have been derived." 



Should further investigation confirm this judgment we see 

 at once how valuable is the discovery in Great Britain of a new 

 species of this curious and interesting genus. 



J Michaelsen's Researches. 



In 1898, Dr. Michaelsen, of Hamburg, published in the 

 Zoologischen Jahvbiicheni a valuable article entitled " Beitrage 

 zur Kenntniss der Oligochaten," the first part of which (pp. 105- 

 118) is devoted to a study of '^Phreoryctes gordioides (Hartmann), 

 und seine synonymie." He calls attention to the fact that in the 

 early part of this century Hartmann gave some account of a 

 worm which he called Luiiibiicus gordioides, and which had pre- 

 viously been confused with Gorditis. After various historical 

 allusions the author adds : — 



" Zu Phreoryctes gonlioides muss ferner de von dem irischen 

 Gelehrteii Rev. H. Friend aufgestellte Art Dichata curviseiosa (Friend 

 on ' The Scientific Stud)- of Worms ' in the The Naturalist, 1896, 

 p. 79) ^ezogen werden. So spiirHch die Angaben iiber diese Art sind— 

 dem Alitor derselben lag nur ein einziges, jugendliches Exemplar vor 

 — so lassen sie dcch die Phreoryctes Natur des Warms erkennen. ' The 

 worm — which is aquatic in habit— is about four mches in length, and 

 composed of some 250 segments, the first of which, like all the rest, 

 contained two setse only. Modified setae occur on segments 11 to 14; 

 the head (prostomium) is long and narrow, and the brain ganglion 

 apparently circular in front.' Auch der Speciesname ' curvisctosa' 



