138 DESCRIPTIONS OF EARTHWORMS. 



known, M. Deshayesi from Ceylon') and M. indicus^) 

 from the Nilgiris being scarcely half as long, and most 

 species do not measure more than 30 mm. 



The colour of the worm at the dorsal side is bluish- 

 brown , at its ventral side yellowish-brown. The brown 

 colour is produced by a pigment, situated in the epider- 

 mis , and the blue one is not as usually due to the irides- 

 cence of the cuticula , but appears to belong to the circular 

 muscle-layer , which possesses an ultramarine hue , especially 

 in its outermost layers. No pigment could be detected in 

 this layer , and the colour appears rather to be produced 

 by the particular structure of the circular muscles. As 

 also stated by Beddard in M. bahamensis ') the trans- 

 verse muscular coat shows a honey-combed structure in 

 longitudinal sections*), for in each muscle-fibre the exter- 

 nal layer of fibrillated substance is very narrow as compa- 

 red to the central body of granular matter ; in this central 

 body, which is clear and highly refractive the blue colour 

 resides. 



Like as in most other Moniligaster-aTpecies no clitellum 

 is visible. The prostomium is rounded , not extending 

 backward ; ist exact shape however could not be recogni- 

 zed, because the wall of the buccal cavity is everted. The 

 buccal segment is very short, scarcely half as long as the 

 second segment; it is provided with parallel, longitudinal 

 folds. 



The setae are arranged in couples ; the distance be- 

 tween the two ventral couples is twice as great as the 

 space between the ventral and dorsal ones. Upon the two 

 anterior segments the setae could not be recognized. The 



1) Nouv. Arch, du Museum, Vol. VIII, 1872, p. 130, PI. IV, figs. 77—84. 



2) Quart. Journ. Microsc. Science, Vol. XXXIV, 1893, p. 361, Pis. XXXII 

 and XXXIII. 



3) Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1892, p. 690. 



4) No doubt by a slip of the pen the figure 5 of Plate XLV is called in 

 the explanation a transverse section through the clitellum; it really represents 

 a longitudinal one. 



Notes from the Hieyden M.iiseuiri , Vol. X.VI. 



