S^NURIS. 65 



Obs. The worm is about one inch in length, and, in the water, 

 appears of a deep red colour, but the immersed half is a pale straw- 

 yellow. The skin is pellucid, and permits us to trace easily the 

 course of the dorsal vessel and of the intestine, running tortuously 

 from one end to the other, and making a twist in every segment. I 

 have apparently seen only four spinets in the fascicles, and those of 

 the ventral fascicles are longer than the others ; but this requires 

 re-examination. Oersted says that the superior bristles are partly 

 hooked and partly capillary, and the inferior all hooked,— a peculiar 

 structure, which would remove the species to another genus. 



2. S. vagans, dorsal vessel simple ; body composed of about 50 seg- 

 ments ; 3 to 8 spinets in the fascicles ; nomade. Length 6'". 



Lumbrieus tubifex, var., Miill. Zool. Dan. iii. 5. tab. 84. f. 3, a, b, c. 

 Hab. In the soil under the moss on rocks over which water trickles. 



Desc. Worm slender as a thread, filiform, incapable of shortening 

 the body, reddish, the skin translucent and colourless, exposing the 

 tortuous blood-vessel and intestine. The sides are crenulate under 

 a high magnifier. Head obtusely pointed. Anal segment truncate, 

 slightly emarginate, the vent wide and terminal. The spinets are 

 colourless, slightly bent, acute at the apex, and much shorter than 

 the diameter of the segment : they are in fan-shaped fascicles, and 

 the number is greater in the ventral than in the dorsal series. 



(«) Near Berwick, Br. Johnston. 



3. S. variegata, dorsal vessel with lateral caeca in each segment, 

 forming a series of quadrangular spots on each side. Length 

 1-2^ 



Vers longues aquatiques d'un brun rougeatre. Bonnet, Insectol. ii. 6. 



pi. 1. f. 1-9. Mull. Wurm-Arten, 33 & 41. 

 Lumbrieus variegatus. Mull. Zool. Dan. Prod. no. 2604 ; Verm. i. ii. 



26. Bosc, Vers, i. 255. Blumenb. Man. 241. Flem. Phil. Zool. 



ii. 603. Johnston in Zool. Journ. iii. 326. 

 Nais variegatus, Schweigg. Hand. 590. 

 Lumbriculus variegatus, Grube, Fam. Annel. 101. 

 Lumbrieus teres, Dalyell, Pow. Creat. ii. 140. pi. 17. f. 10-12. 



Hab. Under dead leaves and in ditches, in wet places, or even in the 



water. 



Obs. The most beautiful of its tribe, and readily distinguished by 

 the character of the dorsal vessel which the pellucidity of the skin 

 permits to be seen. The body is quite smooth, but under a high 

 magnifier the sides appear finely crenulated. The extremities are 

 frequently colourless. The spinets are very short, quadriserial. 



