166 



Cliridmas Inland. 



VERMES/ 



ON THE EARTHWORMS FROM CHRISTiMAS ISLAND. 



By Daniel Rosa, D. Sc, 

 Assistant in the Royal Zoological Museum, Turin. 



1. Pontodrilus ephippiger, D. Rosa (1898). (Figs. 1, 2.) 

 D. Eosa: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. [7], vol. ii (1898), p. 281, pi. ix, figs. 4, 5. 



witlt 

 85 to 



peri- 



1 2 



Fontodriliis epJiippiger, D. Rosa (1898). 



Fig. 1. Prostate. 

 ,, 2. Spermatlieca. 



Hal. — Christmas Island (near small stream on east coast). 



The length of our specimens ranges from 43 to 47 mm., 

 a diameter of 3 mm. ; the number of segments varies from 

 1 00 ; the colour (in spirit) is an intense yellow. 



The prostomium is short, only slightly dovetailed in the 

 stomium, which is longer than the second segment. 



The settB are distant : behind the clitellum the ventral interval 

 aa is twice that between sette ah ; the lateral intervals between 

 setse ah, he, cd are about equal, though slightly increasing from 

 below upwards ; the dorsal middle space del is about three times as 

 wide as cd. These distances vary slightly in front of the clitellum ; 

 for instance, at the height of the spermathecfe the setfe he are 

 slightly wider apart than seta3 ah or cd, so that the setae are here 

 paired, though, of course, not very close together. 



The clitellum extends over segments 13-17= 5; it may be 

 termed saddle-shaped, ceasing near the outer ventral seta {h) : this 

 clitellum is well developed dorsally, where its rings are completely 

 fused together, while on the ventral area the setae as well as the 

 intersegmental furrows are tolerably visible. 



There is a deep transverse fossa on segment 1 8 ; the transverse 



^ Eeprinted, by permission, from Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. [7], vol. ii (1898),. 

 p. 281, pi. ix, figs. 4-7. 



