EARTHWORM PHERETIMA HUPEIENSIS — GRANT 51 



Color: Pheretima hupeiensis varies in life from pale green to deep 

 olive. Occasionally it is of a deeper hue anteriorly, although this is 

 by no means a characteristic condition, A distinct purple or black 

 line is apparent on the dorsal midline extending from the posterior 

 margin of the clitellum to the last segment, interrupted interseg- 

 mentally by the dorsal pores. The clitellum in the mature condition 

 is a brilliant ivory, while the clitellar regions of the semimature are 

 almost black in color. With the exception of the clitellum there is 

 apparently no deepening of color with age. This description is in 

 near agreement with that of Chen (1933) and that of Schread (1952). 

 The specimens from the Pelham collection seldom showed the pro- 

 nounced difference in coloration from the dorsal to ventral surfaces 

 as described by Chen for worms of the Yangtze Valley, China. His 

 description of animals with a light chocolate clitellum was probably of 

 individuals past their sexual prime, as this color is quite common just 

 before clitellar degeneration. 



Size: In the preserved specimens from Pelham, the size varies from 

 89 to 22 mm. in length, and from 5.5 to 1 mm. in width. The mean 

 lengths and widths for each of the four categories described above and 

 their standard deviations are shown in table 1, The relationship 

 between length and width is presented graphically in figure 1. The 

 line representing the regression of width on length indicates a constant 

 isometric relationship between length and diameter. In the equation 

 W=a+6L the values of the constants a and b are 0.18 and 0.058, re- 

 spectively. The correlation coefficient of 0.77 is highly significant. 

 The analysis justifies the earlier assumption that worms preserved 

 under standard conditions are uniformly contracted. 



In specimens from Szechwan Province, China, Chen (1931) gives a 

 size range from 70 to 130 mm. in length, and 3 to 6 mm. in diameter, 

 while his 1933 Yangtze Valley description mentions worms as long as 

 222 mm. Kobayashi (1938) gives lengths of 61 to 150 mm. with 

 widths up to 5 mm. in specimens from Korea. The type specimen 

 described by Michaelsen (1895) from Hupei Province, China, meas- 

 ured 40 mm. in length with a diameter of 3.5 mm. A specimen de- 

 scribed by Gates (1935) from Washington, D. C, was 70 mm. long and 

 3 mm. wide. 



It would be extremely difficult to draw any definite conclusions from 

 these figures, for, with the exception of Gates' specimen it is not known 

 under what conditions the worms were measured, nor is there an indi- 

 cation of their state of maturity. Nevertheless, there is some indica- 

 tion that on the Asiatic mainland the species is larger than the pere- 

 grine popidation of the United States. The relation of width to 

 length suggests that the figures of Chen and Kobayashi show worms 



