ON MEGASCOLEX C(ERULEUS. 



On Megascolex coeruleus, Templeton, from 

 Ceylon ; together with a Theory of the Course 

 of the Blood in Earthworms. 



By 



Alfred Glbbs Bourne, D.Sc.liond., C.m.Z.S., F.Ii.S., 



Fellow of University College, London ; Fellow of the Madras University ; 



Professor of Biology in the Presidency College, Madras. 



Introduction. 



During the summer of 1889 I visited Ceylon^ with the 

 view of determining the relation of the Earthworm Fauna of 

 the island to that of Southern India. 



I obtained an introduction from the Madras Government^ 

 and express here my great indebtedness to them, as well as 

 to Sir E. Noel Walker, Colonial Secretary, to H. W. Green, 

 Esq., Director of Public Instruction (Ceylon), and to 

 T. C. Huxley, Esq., of Peradeniya, for their assistance in 

 facilitating my work. To Mr. Huxley I am specially indebted 

 for all my specimens of Megascolex coeruleus. 



I obtained no fewer than thirty-eight^ diflFerent species of 



' Of these thirty-eight species I have only found seven in India, and at the 

 present moment I know of about twenty-nine Indian species which I did not 

 VOL. XXXII, PART I. — NEW SER. D 



