Miscellaneous. 231 



which I believe to be too interesting both to geologists and zoologists 

 to be withheld from publication. He says : 



" During the past year we have also found here, in Sweden, in the 

 great Lake Wettern, which is very deep (400 to 500 fathoms), some 

 marine Crustacea, some even of polar species, such as Gammarus 

 loricatus (Sabine). These without doubt must have been left here 

 since the glacial period, when all Sweden was under a sea of ice. 

 We have many raised shell-beaches that I attribute to the same 

 era ; but undoubtedly it is new to find living marine animals that 

 have continued in the lakes of the temperate regions since the glacial 

 period." 



Lake Wettern lies in the south of Sweden, and is in the same lati- 

 tude as the north of Scotland ; whereas the only habitats that have 

 been recorded in which G. loricatus (Sabine) has been found are 

 Prince Regent's Inlet, where it was taken abundantly by Sir James 

 C. Ross ; Arctic Sea, by Admiral Parry and Sir Edward Belcher ; 

 and Greenland, by Kroyer. 



Prof. Liljeborg also informs me that he has recently taken Latona 

 setifera (Miiller), which is, I believe, the first time since it was 

 described. 



Believe me. Gentlemen, 



Yours obediently, 



C. Spence Bate. 

 Plymouth, Feb. U, 18G1. 



On the Genus Bipalium. By William Stimpson. 



During the visit of the North Pacific Expedition to Hongkong in 

 1854, my attention was called by Dr. Bowring to some remarkable 

 vermiform animals which he had observed creeping among damp dead 

 leaves in his garden, and which he called " ground leeches." One of 

 these we fortunately secured, which was found upon examination to 

 possess the following characters : — The body was hnear, nearly 2 feet 

 in length when fully extended, and scarcely more than an eighth of an 

 inch in breadth. The surface was slimy, like that of a slug, and of 

 a greyish colour, with two or three longitudinal black stripes above. 

 The head was lunate, transverse to the body, with the convexity in 

 front, and the auricles projecting laterally to a distance equalling 

 about half the width of the body. Upon the upper surface of the 

 head were scattered some minute black specks, which were undoubt- 

 edly imperfect eyes (ocelli). On the inferior surface of the body 

 there were two small apertures in the median line, the anterior one 

 of which, at the middle of the body, was the mouth. 



The worm therefore belongs to the order Turbellaria and to the 

 tribe of Planariaus ; it is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable 

 forms, of a very distinct and peculiar genus. Upon a recent exami- 

 nation of the literary history of the group, I find that species of the 



