DESCRIPTIONS OF GENERA AND SPECIES 469 



of the genus Pontodrilus ; they would not be of themselves sufficient to place the 

 species in the present genus, but they confirm the justice of this placing. 



(i) Pontodrilus littoralis (GRUBE). 



Lumbricus littoralis, GRUBE, Arch. f. Nat., 1855, p. 137. 

 Pontodrilus Marionis, PERKIER, C. R., 1874, p. 1583. 



Definition. Length, TOO mm.; diameter, 4 mm.; number of segments, 115. Papillae on 

 XX, XXI. Spermathecae with a single diverticuliim in VII, VIII. Sperm-sacs in 

 AY, XI f. Gizzard rudimentary. Hab. Shores of Mediterranean. 



There can be hardly any doubt that all the forms described under the above two 

 names are representatives of one and the same species, in spite of the great distance 

 which divides the localities where they occur. P. littoralis and ' P. marionis ' have 

 been met with at Villa Franca and Marseilles by GRUBE and MARION ; I received, 

 through the kindness of my late friend Dr. George Hoggan, specimens from Nice. 

 A year or two since I briefly mentioned in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History ' the existence of Pontodrilus at the Bermudas ; I assumed that this form 

 was different from the Mediterranean Pontodrilus. A more careful examination of 

 those specimens has confirmed the justice of separating them from the European form. 

 As to 'P. marionis,' PERRIER regarded it as distinct from P. littoralis mainly on 

 account of the differences shown in the genital papillae, but at the same time remarks 

 that the matter must be regarded as doubtful, since he (M. PERRIER) had received 

 examples of the supposed species ' P. marionis ' from the exact locality which furnished 

 P. littoralis. A curious fact about this earthworm (and the next) is its habitat. 

 It has been hitherto only met with upon the sea-shore, generally among masses of 

 sea-weed ; the only other species of earthworm which inhabits the same locality is 

 Pontoscolex arenicola. The living specimens of Pontodrilus received from Nice were 

 colourless, that is to say there was no integumental pigment ; their reddish colouration 

 was manifestly due to the blood-vessels. 



(2) Pontodrilus bermudensis, BEDDARD. 



P. bermudensis, BEDDARD, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Jan. 1891, p. 222. 



P. arenae, MiCHAELSEN, Arch. f. Nat., 1892, p. 222. 



Pontoscolex arenicola, SCHMARDA, Neue wirbell. Thiere, Bd. I, ii, p. 1 1 (in part.). 



