ON AN EARTHWORM FROM THE UPPER-CONGO, 



Benhamia congica , n. sp. 



Dr. R horst. 



Some time ago Mr. -A. A. van Bemmelen , director of the 

 Zoological garden at Rotterdam , placed in my hands for identi- 

 ficatiou an earthworm , received from the Üpper-Oongo. On 

 examination the specimen proved to belong to the genus Ben- 

 liamia , of which already several species are found in Afrika *) ; 

 with none of them however this worm could be identified, and 

 therefore I believe it represents a new species. 



The leugth of the worm is about 85 mm.; the colour of the 

 body is brownish , except on the clitellum , which ig of a 

 greyish hue. The segmeuts present two circular grooves , dividing 

 them in three annuli , the middle of which is beset with the 

 setae. The setaé" are arranged in fonr couples, situated ventrally, 

 at about equal distance from each other. The cephalic lobe has 

 a rounded triangular shape, and appears to extend back, with 

 a very narrow appendix , over the total length of the buccal 

 segment. The first dorsal pore is visible in the intersegmental 

 groove Y/VL Two pairs of spermathecal pores are situated 

 betweeu segments VII and -VIII , VIII and IX , close to the 

 ventral median line , in the series of the internal bristles of the 

 ventral couples. There are no copulatory papillae. 



The clitellum (fig. 1), occupying segments XIII — XIX, is very 

 obvious, as well by its greyish colour as by the absence of 



1) Die Terricolen-fauna Afrika's von Michaelsen; Jahrb. Hamb. Wissensch. Anstalten, 

 IX, 1891, p. 56. 



