370 PROCEEDIJJGS OF SECTION D. 



As land Planarians cannot be satisfactorily described or 

 figured except from living specimens, it appears to me that 

 the best plan is for local naturalists to describe and, if pos- 

 sible, figure the external characters — which are quite suflft- 

 cient for the recognition of species — and then forward 

 specimens in spirit to Professor von Graff for anatomical 

 investigation and comparison. This is the principle upon 

 which I have been working for some time past. 



In order to facilitate the work of collectors in identifying 

 already described species, I give at the end of this paper a 

 bibliography of the Austrahan land Planarians. 



2. Notes on some Tasmanian Lanb Planarians. 



The only Tasmanian land Planarian hitherto described is, as 

 already stated, Geoplana iasmaniana, collected by Darwin on 

 the memorable voyage of the Beagle. The original descrip- 

 tion is quoted by Fletcher and Hamilton in their valuable 

 " Notes on Austrahan Land Planarians." 



The few specimens which I myself have to dtscribe were 

 collected in January, 1 889, chiefly by my wife, near Hobart. 

 It will be seen that, so far as present observations go, the 

 land Planarians of Tasmania are very similar to those of 

 Victoria. 



Geoplana alba (Dendy).^ 



I identify, as a variety of this common Victorian species, 

 a large specimen which I find described in my notes on the 

 living worm as follows : — Length when crawling about four 

 inches ; colour on dorsal surface pale yellow, with big 

 brownish pink tip at anterior end. Ventral surface white, 

 brownish pink at anterior end; worm much flattened, very 

 active, feeling about with horseshoe shaped anterior extremity 

 as usual. 



On careful examination of the spirit-preserved specimen, 

 I noticed two points in which it differs from the Victorian 

 specimens of G. alba — (1) I could find no eyes. In the 

 Victorian specimens of G. alba the eyes are remarkably 

 small and few as compared with those of other species. It 

 is possible that the Tasmanian form has lost the eyes alto- 

 gether, or, perhaps, as seems more probable, I have over- 

 looked them in the spirit-preserved specimen. This is a 

 point which I should much hke to s^e determined by the 

 examination of fresh specimens. (2) The ventral surface of 



' Deswiptions and figures wjjl be found ia Nos. 5, 6, 7 of tJi« Bibliography. 



