498 W. BLAXLAND BENHAM. 



turned out to be a quite youDg individual of" the same species. 

 A few days afterwards I returned to the spot, but was unsuc- 

 cessful in repeating the capture. 



The following account is founded on an examination of the 

 larger individual, which, after examining it alive and making 

 a sketch of it in natural colours, I killed and stained. I then 

 examined it in oil of cloves, and finally cut it into a series of 

 transverse sections. 



The animal measured during life, when moderately extended, 

 30 mm. from the tip of the proboscis to the anus,^ its greatest 

 diameter at the collar 2"4 mm.; the proboscis was 9'5 mm., about 

 one third the whole length (fig. 1). The colour is rich carmine- 

 red, the proboscis and collar being deepest in tint, the colour 

 fading gradually towards the hinder end ; in the last half of 

 the body the thin body-wall allows the brown intestine to show 

 through. The hinder part of the body is flecked with white 

 (? glands), visible through a hand lens. The extreme tip of 

 the proboscis is brown, which passes gradually and imper- 

 ceptibly into the red. 



The proboscis is the most remarkable feature in this species, 

 for it is traversed throughout its length by a deep groove along 

 its dorsal surface (figs. 1, 2, a, and figs. 5, 6, 7, g). It was only 

 after I had killed the worm that I became aware of the interest 

 attaching to this groove, and I regret that I did not examine it in 

 greater detail during life. I am not quite certain whether it is 

 a permanent structure, or whether it can be flattened out 

 during the movement of the animal. My notes read as 

 follows : — '•' The animal was freely creeping on the weed, . . . 

 creeping by the use of its very contractile proboscis, which 

 becomes deeply grooved along one surface." However, this 

 fact can easily be ascertained on the next occasion on which 

 the worm is captured. 



The worm, at any rate, appeared to use its proboscis as a 

 temporary organ of fixation during progression, for it attached 



* The measurements of the specimen when killed are as follows : — Proboscis 

 6'25 mm., branchial region and collar 2*4 mm., genital region 3 mm., total 

 length of worm 20 mm. 



