388 On some supposed new Species of Earthworms. 
again asked the authorities of the British Museum to allow 
me the privilege of examining the types which Prof. Rao 
had deposited there ; these were sent to me, and I owe the 
authorities of the Museum my best thanks for so kindly 
acceding to my request. 
Prof. Rao begins his paper by giving a list of Indian 
Glossoscolecide ; this list is erroneous—it includes Oriodrilus 
bathybates, Steph., which is not an Indian species (it is 
recorded only from Japan), and omits Gilyphidrilus papillatus 
(Rosa) (Lucknow and Burma). This omission vitiates the 
diagnostic table on p. 53. 
The ovisacs of all four species are stated to be in the same 
segment as the ovaries; in G. rarus the egg-sac is said to be 
attached to the posterior surface of septum 12/13 along with 
the ovary. The ovisacs are normally one segment behind 
the ovaries, anda situation such as that described would be, 
practically speaking, impossible. 
The testes and male funnels of G. fluviatilis are also made 
to occupy an impossible position, and the same is the case 
with G. sagfronensis ; moreover, in placing these organs 
where he does, the author contradicts his own generic dia- 
gnosis on p. 52. He states that the testes in G. fluviatilis 
are “mostly free,” whatever that may mean; testes are either 
enclosed in testis-sacs or they are not—in the latter case they 
are “ free.’ By ‘testicular sacs” Prof. Rao means seminal 
vesicles ; there are no testicular sacs in the genus, By 
‘canals’? on pp. 54 and 62 the author presumably means 
grooves. 
One of Prof. Rao’s species is called in his paper G. elegans ; 
the type is said to be in the British Museum. No worm so 
named was found amongst the specimens received from the 
Museum; there were, however, two specimens, one labelled 
“type,” of a worm called G. splendens, which is not described 
in the paper. ‘These correspond pretty well to the description 
of G. elegans, and, as the localities also agree, Prof. Rao 
seems to have given two names to the same specimens. 
I can be brief in the account of my own examination of 
the worms. 
1 found none of the abnormal conditions of the genital 
organs described by Prof. Rao. 
Glyphidrilus fluviatilis and G. elegans or splendens are 
identical with G. annandalet, Mich. ; I have myself described 
the dorsal shifting of the fourth and fifth lateral papille in a 
paper (“ Oligochata from Manipur, the Laccadive Islands, 
Mysore, and other Parts of India”) which is appearing in the 
