AIONILIGASTER IIOUTENfl. 97 



NOTE II. 

 DESCRIPTIONS Of EARTHWORMS. 



BY 



Dr. R. HORST. 



I. 



Moniligaster.Houtenii n. sp., 



a gigantic earthworm from Sumatra. 



(Plate 1, fig. 1—3). 



Some time ago our Museum received from Mr. van 

 Houten a large earthworm , found on his coffee-plantation 

 in Tapanoeli (Sumatra). Though we know gigantic earth- 

 worms (of more than 1 'M. in length) to exist in several 

 tropical countries : Ceylon {Megascolex coeruleus Tempi.) '), 

 Cayenne {Anteus gigas Perr.) ^), Brasil [Titanus hrasiliensis 

 Perr.) ^), Cape Colony {Microchaeta Rappi Bedd.) *) and 

 Australia ^), I hitherto never heard of their presence in 

 the Malayan Archipelago. 



Our animal measures 1.50 M. in length; unfortunately 

 it is not very well preserved , but rather soft and extended , 

 so I think it will not be its exact length during its 

 lifetime. The number of segments amounts to 443 and 

 the body attains its greatest thickness in the anterior re- 

 gion , its circumference measuring here about 55 m.m. The 

 wall of the buccal cavity is somewhat extruded, therefore 

 I could not recognize the shape of the cephalic lobe. No 

 clitellum is visible and the pori dorsales seem also to be 



1) Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol. XV, 1845, p. 59. 



2) Nonv. Arch. Muséum d'Hist. Nat. Vol. VIII, 1872, p. 50. 



3) Id. id. p. 57. 



4) Trans. Zool. Soc. Vol. XII, 1886, p. 63. 



5) Fletcher, in Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Meeting 30 June 1886. 



Notes from the Leyden IMuseum, "Vol. IX. 



7 



