86 Proceedings of tJie Royal Society of Victoria. 



supposed (thougli without any conclusive evidence) migbt 

 be an Austi-alian form, I refrained from naming the species. 

 Recently, however, thanks to the kindness of Professor von 

 Graff, Professor Haswell, Professor Spencer and Professor 

 Howes, I have received several copies of the paper in 

 question, and as there can no longer be any doubt that the 

 species is perfectly distinct from any that liave been 

 previously described, and as I have since obtained an 

 abundant supply of material from various localities, I have 

 decided to give a detailed description of the new species in 

 this place, under the name Geonemertes audraliensis. 



In addition to the gentlemen whose names are mentioned 

 above, I desire also to record my indebtedness to the 

 following for valuable assistance and material, viz. : — 

 Mr. J. J. Fletcher, M.A., for the loan of two specimens of 

 Geonemertes (sp. ?) from Tasmania and jSIew South Wales 

 respectively;* Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson, M.A., Mr. E. F. J. 

 Love, M.A., Rev. W. Fielder, Mr. C. C. Brittlebank, Mr. 

 Shephard and Mr. Fiddian for s})ecimens fi-om various parts 

 of Victoria ; and Mr. T. Whitelegge, of the Australian 

 Museum, Sydney, for most kindly photogi-aphing for me the 

 plate illustrative of von Kennel's paper on Geonemertes 

 palaensis,-f which I have been unable to obtain. 



2. Habitat and Distribution. 



Gconennertes australiensis is a thoroughly cryptozoic^: 

 animal. The tirst sjjecimen which I found was beneatii a stone, 

 but since then most of the numerous specimens discovered 

 have been found under rotting logs. As might be expected 

 the animal seems to like a tolerably damp situation, 

 apparently it does not burrow in the earth but simply 

 lies beneath its shelter. Since I first recorded it from 

 Walhalla it has been obtained fi'om the Otwa}' Forest (Mr. 

 Wilson and Mr. Love), Creswick (Mr. Fiddian), the Upper 

 Yarra district (Professor Spencer), § Narre Warren (Professor 

 Spencer), Myrniong (Mr. Brittlebank) and the Fern Tree 

 Oully district. The most remarkable discovery was that at 

 Fern Tree Gully, on the occasion of an expedition made by 

 the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, on March 14, 1891, 



* Vide Proc. Linu. Soc. N.S.W., April 29, 1891. 



t Arbeit. Zool.-Zoot. Inst., Wurzbnrg, IV., 1877 78. 



\ For cxplauatiou of this term vide Victorian Naturalist, loc. cit. 



§ Vide Victorian Naturalist, March-April 1891, p. 179. 



