Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victo)ia. 161 



thought this depended a good deal on the nature of the shade 

 in which they lived. When some were found living more 

 out in the open than others, their colours were very nuich 

 more brilliant. The colours of those found living in more 

 shady places were not so brilliant. Another curious point 

 was the large number of different species often found 

 huddled together beneath the same log. In this position 

 he had frequently found as many as four, and sometimes five 

 species ; and this at first had seemed to him a strong reason 

 for believing that their stripes were not an indication of 

 their different species. However, since he had seen how 

 persistent the shapes of the body were with the stripes, he 

 had come to consider that the stripes should have much more 

 weight attached to them. Still, they very often disappeared ; 

 the thin ones certainly did, and therefore he thought they 

 were hardly sufficient to make a classification by. 



Mr. Dendy said that the main point was, that the 

 species were distinguishable, and that the planarian could 

 very easily be identified. All the old species had been 

 identified at a glance. The stripes varied a little in 

 distinctness, but the body shape and arrangements seemed 

 to be always constant, and the position of the external 

 apertures were good guides. The external appearances were 

 quite sufficient to enable one to define the species. As yet, 

 only one species had been worlced out anatomically, but it 

 was hoped that this work would be continued, when it 

 would be shown how the internal anatomy agreed with the 

 external appearances. Professor Von Graff had written to 

 him, informing him that he was writing a Monograph, and 

 he (Mr. Dendy) had sent him thirteen species. He had 

 received a letter from the Professor stating that he was 

 cutting these specimens into sections, and it was therefore 

 hoped that his observations would be able to appear together 

 with their own, so that a better idea would be gained as to 

 how far planarians are recognisable as distinct species. 

 With regard to the different species occurring in different 

 localities, it was a striking fact that every region seemed 

 to have its particular planarian fauna. There seemed 

 to be a particular set of planarians characterising each 

 district. 



Mr. Ralph then read a paper entitled, " Observations and 

 Experiments on the Coloured Material of the Red 

 Corpuscles." 



