324 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. X, 



region can scarcely be said to have a proper earthworm fauna of 

 its own. The territory of the genus Eutyphoeus must be extended 

 to include a part of the South-East Punjab; but for the rest, the 

 terrestrial Oligochaeta have come from outside. There are earth- 

 worms in Lahore, for example, in any abundance; but they are 

 species of Pheretima from the South-East, or of Helodrilus from 

 the North- West. 



It may be added that, except from the Simla hills, the only 

 previous records of earthworms from the Punjab and North-West 

 Frontier Province are those of Pheretima hawayana and Lampito 

 mauritii, both from Lahore ; examples of which were some years 

 ago transmitted from me by the Indian Museum to Dr. Michaelsen. 



Fam. NAIDIDAE. 

 Nais raviensis, sp. nov. 



Specimens of this worm were found in material taken from 

 the river Ravi near Lahore in February 1914. 



The worms are minute in size, and are only to be discovered 

 by a systematic search with a dissecting binocular microscope. 

 The length of a chain of two is only 3 mm. ; in breadth they are 

 about "12 mm. ; their colour is whitish. 



The prostomium is blunt and short, shorter in length than 

 the breadth of its base. There are no eyes. The number of 

 segments in a double animal is about 26, that is about 13 in each 

 half. 



The setae are arranged in the manner usual in the genus. 

 The first four pairs of ventral setal bundles are used actively, 

 apparently as claws by which the animal pulls itself along ; the 

 bundles are first thrust forwards, the setae being together and 

 parallel to the long axis of the body ; then, as they are drawn 

 backwards, they are spread out fan- wise, and lastly come together 

 again parallel to each other When in action, the points of the 

 setae are directed backwards, like claws, the convexity of the 

 curve of the distal (free) portions of the setae facing forwards. 



The dorsal setae begin in segment vi, each bundle consisting as 

 a rule of one hair-seta and one needle-seta; occasionally two 

 needles are met with. The hair is short and fine, in length 83/^ 

 or less. The needle (text-fig. ic) is of the double -pronged type ; 

 the shaft is almost straight for the most part, slightly curved 

 distally ; the two teeth of the forked end are short, stoutish at 

 their base, separated by a considerable angle, and of equal length; 

 the nodulus is about f of the length of the shaft from its distal 

 end; in length these setae are 40/.. 



The ventral setae are usually four, sometimes three, per bundle ; 

 they may be divided into two groups, an anterior comprising 

 those belonging to segments ii-v, and a posterior comprising the 

 remainder ; those of the anterior group are longer and thinner, with 

 proximal nodulus, those of the posterior have the opposite charac- 

 ters. 



