232 Miscellaneous. 



genus have been seen and described by several other observers. The 

 following is its history. 



Many years ago (1835), Dr. J. E. Gray, in his * Zoological Mis- 

 cellany' (p. 5), first described one of these animals under the name 

 of Platiaria lunata, from Bengal. The description is short, but 

 suificient to show unmistakeably the place of the species in the genus 

 under consideration. This description has been overlooked by all 

 subsequent authors ; and even Dr. Gray himself appears to have 

 forgotten it, although he has undoubted priority. 



In 1842, Dr. Cantor, in a paper on the Fauna and Flora of 

 Chusan (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ix. 277), says, "Among the 

 Annelidas occurs a remarkable form, with the anterior part drawn 

 out to the sides, like the head of Zygcena." He also speaks of two 

 other species known to him — one from Bengal. The latter is pro- 

 bably PL lunata. 



I can find no further published mention of such forms— not even in 

 the ' Systema Helminthorum' of Diesing, 1851 (who overlooks Gray's 

 description) — until the appearance of my Conspectus of the Turbel- 

 laria Dendrocoela, in the ' Proceedings ' of the Philadelphia Academy 

 of Natural Sciences for February 1857, where the genus is described 

 under the name of Bipalium, which name was suggested by the re- 

 semblance of the animal, in the shape of its head, &c., to a double 

 mattock, or pick-axe. It was placed in the family Geoplanidce, with 

 the following diagnosis : — 



" Corpus lineare, depressiusculum. Caput discretum, lunatum, 

 transversum ; auriculis sat longis, retrorsum tendentibus. Ocelli nu- 

 merosi, minuti, in capite, plerumque in ejus raarginibus dispositi. Os 

 centrale vel post-centrale. Apertura genitalis inter os et extremi- 

 tatem posteriorem, ssepius ad dimidium distantise sita." 



Four species were described, all from the Japanese islands. The 

 original species observed in China was not found named in the 

 Synopsis, as the specimens of that species were unfortunately lost. 



In 1859 the genus was re-named by Dr. Schmarda in his 'Neue 

 Wirbellose Thiere.' He calls it Sphyrocephalus, and gives a coloured 

 figure and an anatomical description. 



Still more recently, in the 'Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist.' for July, 1860, 

 it has been again named by Dr. E. Percival Wright, who calls 

 it Dunlopea, and describes three species. Dr. Wright, however, 

 having only preserved specimens to examine, has somewhat misun- 

 derstood its character. He states that there are no ocelli, and has 

 failed to perceive the genital opening. 



Both Schmarda and Wright have overlooked previous labours ; so 

 that the genus now rejoices in three distinct appellations, all given 

 within four years : of these, Bipalium is the earliest. Eight species 

 are now known. — Silliman's Journal, Jan. 1861. 



