258 Transactiona . — Zoology. 



Akt. XX. — Notes on Neio Zealand Land Plnnarians : 

 Part III.-- 



By Arthur Dendy, D.Sc, F.L.S., Professor of Biology in 

 the Canterbury College, University of New Zealand. 



[Bead before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 30th November, 



1896.] 



The following notes deal with a number of Land Planarians 

 received from various parts of New Zealand during the past 

 year. The majority were collected by myself on a trip to the 

 west coast of the South Island in January, 1896, at Otira, 

 Jackson's, Kumara, and Lake Mahinapua, near Hokitika. I 

 am indebted to Sir James Hector for a hxrge specimen of 

 G. triangulata var. atistralis, from Nelson; to Mr. H. Suter 

 for some very interesting specimens collected by himself at 

 Dunedin ; and to Mr. W. T. Locke Travers for valuable 

 specimens from "Wellington. 



Geoplana sanguinea, Moseley. 



Specimens of this widely-distributed species were met with 

 in abundance under wood lying on the ground in paddocks 

 between Lake Mahinapua and the sea-shore. I also found a 

 single specimen at Kumara Junction. There is some diffi- 

 culty in distinguishing between this species and G. triangu- 

 lata var. ausiralis, especially after preservation in spirit, 

 when the dark purplish-brown colour of the latter has 

 faded, and the pale supra-marginal bands are no longer dis- 

 tinct. I cannot help suspecting that, while G. triangulata 

 var. australis is truly endemic, G. sanguinea may, after 

 all, have been introduced from Australia. Its great abund- 

 ance on cleared ground on the West Coast in company 

 with introduced slugs (Limax agrestis and Amalia gagates) is 

 very suggestive. 



Geoplana triangulata var. australis, Dendy. 



I have received from Sir James Hector a large speci- 

 men preserved in alcohol which is evidently referable to 

 this variety. It was collected at Nelson, and is, I believe, 

 the specimen referred to by Sir James Hector in the 

 " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," vol. xxv., 

 p. 255. It is a singular fact that this unspeckled variety 

 should occur both north and south of Christchurch, while 

 in the Christchurch neighbourhood itself the speckled 



* See Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxvii., art. xvii., and vol. xxviii., art. xxii. 



