PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued i^^lVA, N^s^a ^y '^* 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 Vol. 105 Washington: 1955 No. 3351 



AN ANATOMICAL STUDY OF THE PEREGRINE MEGASCO- 

 LECID EARTHWORM PHERETIMA HUPEIENSIS IN THE 

 EASTERN UNITED STATES > 



By William C. Grant, Jr. 



Pheretima (Perichaeta) hupeiensis was first described by Michael- 

 sen (1895) from a specimen collected at Shi-hui-yao near Wuchang, 

 Hupei Province, China. Since then the species has been recorded 

 from a number of localities in China, Korea, and Manchuria. The 

 first verified report of P.' hupeiensis in the United States is given by 

 Chen (1933) from a specimen collected at Philadelphia, Pa. 



Gates (1935) reports that the species was discovered by Dr. W. R. 

 Walton of the U. S. Department of Agriculture on a golf course near 

 Catonsville, Md., in 1935. A specimen collected at Washington, 

 D. C, is also reported by Gates. Numerous reports from golf hnks 

 in the mid-1 93 O's of an exotic earthworm were probably concerned 

 with P. hupeiensis. Its outbreak in Westchester County, N. Y., 

 and in Fairfield County, Conn., initiated a control program by the 

 Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station, as the large number of 

 castings deposited by the worms on golf greens of the area was 

 becoming a serious problem. Chen (1933) suggests that the species 



' Representing a portion of a diiisertation submitted In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree 

 of Doctor of Philosophy at Yale University. 

 « Department of Zoology, Dartmouth College.'Hanover, N. H. 



338103—55 49 



