128 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



doi'sal surface in life was of a uniformly black colour, the 

 anterior extremity rather lighter and the ventral surface 

 brownish-grey. 



Localities. — Gympie (Mary Rivei) ; Cooran. 



6. Bipaliitm keiuense, Moseley.*" 



Two specimens of this remarkable Planarian were obtained. 

 When alive the body was very long and narrow, especially 

 when crawling. The head was, as usual, crescentic or 

 "cheese-cutter-shaped." After preservation in spirit the 

 periphar3'ngeal aperture was situate in about the middle of 

 the ventral surface; the genital aperture I could not 

 distinguish. The ground colour on the dorsal surface of 

 the living animal was olive-brown, interrupted by five 

 dark stiipes arranged as follows : — In the middle line a 

 narrow black stripe ; on each side of this two dark olive- 

 grey stripes, the outer one being narrower and less well- 

 defined than the innei-. The outer and inner paired stripes 

 of each side unite together anteriorly just behind the head. 

 All the stripes stop at the neck and the chee.se-cutter-shaped 

 head has a dark purplish-grey colour in front of a lighter 

 transverse band which marks the junction of head and body. 

 The venti-al sui-face was pale grey in the middle line with a 

 darker grey stripe on eacli side and then, outside this, a pale 

 olive-brown band extending to the outer dark dorsal stripe. 



The specimens agi-eed closely with the figures given by 

 Beil-f- excejit for the presence of the outer dark stripes on the 

 dorsal svnface, which are not shown in Bell's figures but are 

 described by Moseley in his original paper. 1 take the 

 present opportunity of stating that I do not at all agree with 

 Professor Bell's remarks as to the nselessness of the head as 

 a generic character. The head, of coui'se, like all other parts 

 of the body of a Planarian, is capable of great changes of 

 shape in the living animal. No one would deny this for a 

 moment, but, at the same time, the head is always there and 

 always has a certain normal shape to which it constantly 

 returns and which is eminently characteristic. Nothing 

 could be more stiiking than the ditference between Geoplana 



* " Descrii^tion of a New Species of Land-Plaunrian from the Hothouses at 

 Kew Gardens." Aunals and Magazine of Natural History, S. 5, Vol. I, p. 237. 



t " Note on Bipalium kewense, and the generic characters of Land- 

 Planarians." Proceedings of the Zoological Societj' of London, 1886, p. 166, 

 Plate XV HI. 



