156 W. B. BENHAM. 



For this new worm I propose the name Sparganophilus 

 tame sis. The generic name refers to the fact that all the spe- 

 cimens which I could obtain were found amongst the roots and 

 the lower parts of the leaves of the bur-reed (Spargauium 

 ramosum), which grows in black, evil-smelling mud on the 

 banks of the Thames. The worms were all found in a backwater 

 some little distance below Goring, and I could find none else- 

 where, though I examined similar spots on the banks both above 

 and below this backwater, as well as in the river near Oxford. 

 Moreover these worms appeared to be limited to an area of 

 about ten yards in length along the bank, for repeated exa- 

 mination of this backwater met with constant failure with the 

 exception of this prescribed area. When first discovered the 

 worms were accompanied by a number of cocoons. This was in 

 September, 1890. In the next year I visited Goring during the 

 months of July and August. In the former month 1 was quite 

 unsuccessful, but in the latter I found several specimens, all 

 of which, as I have said, were sexually mature. I am inclined 

 to think that, as is the case with Criodrilus,^ these worms 

 spend the greater part of the year in the mud at the bottom 

 of the river, and only come to the banks amongst the roots of 

 Spargauium during August and September for the purposes 

 of reproduction." 



The cocoon is shown, of natural size, in PI. XIX, fig. 4 ; it 

 is a somewhat sausage-shaped body, terminating in a narrow 

 frayed end in one direction, and drawn out to a point at the 

 other, as in Criodrilus; the cocoons, thus, differ in shape 

 from those of the earthworms Lumbricus, Allolobophora, 

 Peri eh set a, which are spherical, but resemble those of Mega- 

 scolides very closely in shape. 



^ Oerley, "Morph.and Biol. Observations on Criodrihis," 'Quart. Journ. 

 Micr. Sci.,' xxvii, p. 537. 



' During August and September of this year, 1S92, 1 have frequently 

 found the cocoons in quantities in the neighbourhood of Oxford, both in the 

 Thames, in tiie Ciierwell, and amongst the roots nut only of Spargauium, 

 but also of Sagittaria sagittifolia and other water plants; I have, 

 however, not come across the worm this year. 



