DESCRIPTIONS OF EARTHWORMS. 291 



NOTE XLI. 

 DESCRIPTIONS OF EARTHWORMS. 



BY 



Dr. R. HORST. 



Ill 1). 



On Acanthodrilus Büttikoferi, Horst. 

 (Plate 5). 



During his last journey in Liberia, my colleague Mr. 

 Büttiköfer had the opportunity to collect a number of 

 earthworms under a mouldering palm-tree. Among them I 

 met with some specimens of Ac. Büttikoferi, a species 

 which I briefly described in this Journal, Yol. VI, p. 105. 

 However this description being based upon the examina- 

 tion of a single very badly preserved individual , I wish 

 to give in the following note some illustrations and a more 

 full account of the distinguishing characters of this spe- 

 cies. The number of described species of Lumbricidae from 

 all parts of the world is increasing daily, and it is a well- 

 known fact to every-one, dealing with this matter, that 

 it is hardly possible to determine the systematic position 

 of earthworms only by their external features; therefore 

 I believe it to be an absolute necessity to indicate accura- 

 tely not only their external but also their internal characters. 



In all our specimens the chtellum is very apparent, 



1) For Part I see p. 97—106 and pi. 1, and for Part II p. 247— 258 and 

 pi. 4 of this volume. 



Notes from th.e Zjeyden Rluseum , "Vol. IX. 



