42 LUMBRICUS TERRESTRIS. 



NOTE IX. 



ON A SPECIMEN OF LUMBRICUS TERRESTRIS, L. 

 WITH BIFURCATED TAIL. 



Dr. R. HORST. 



In the last number of the » Annals and Magazine of 

 Nat. History" (Dec. 1885), I find a notice of Prof. Jeffrey 

 Bell about two Lumbrici with bifid hinder ends , one spe- 

 cimen belonging to L. terrestris , the other to L. foetidus; 

 moreover he mentions a specimen , presenting a similar 

 remarquable arrangement , in the University Museum at 

 Oxford. The occurrence appearing to be rather rare, I may 

 describe here another two-tailed specimen of Lumhricus ter- 

 restris , received by me from a fisherman about a year ago. 

 The worm had a length of about 90 — 100 m. m., while the 

 tails measured about 25 m.m.; the right one however was 

 a little shorter than the left. The structure of the tails 

 appeared quite normal. The dorsal vessel, shining through 

 the skin , was seen dividing into two equal branches at 

 the point of bifurcation ; moreover each tail shows the two 

 lateral rows of bristles. The clitellum was not visible. The 

 worm lived for several weeks under my care , and was put 

 afterwards in alcohol to preserve it for examination. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum , "Vol. "VIII. 



