45l) ^li- II. A. I'aylis oh a 



Ituri Forest district, between the rivers Welle and Aniwimi. 

 The partienhir localities nieutioned lor the syntypes arc 

 Medje and Fundi. 



1 am indebted to Dr. Christy for some most interesting 

 notes on the habits ot" these worms, from which 1 take the 

 liberty of qnoting some passages. With regard to their 

 hai)itat and mode of life, he says : — ' The worms are fonnd, 

 I think, all through the Ituri forest region, in wet torest. 

 They go down several feet in the red clay, and it requires a 

 lot of digging to get them. It is a common sight ... to 

 see their red clay * chimneys ' [casts] sticking up amongst 

 the dead leaves. These are S')m(!times !• or 5 inches high, 

 and about H inches in diameter : usndly open at the top, 

 but sometimes closed and rounded oil' ... I have seen miners 

 at the Bahayru mines using them as tol).icco-|)ipcs after 

 baking them in the Hre.'^ 



When irritated, the worms have the haljit, like some other 

 large earthworms, of squirting fluid from the dorsal pores to 

 a considerable distance. Tlie natives avoid toucliing them 

 on this account, probal)ly thinking them to be p)isonous*. 

 With regard to this habit, 1 again quote Dr. Christy's 

 notes: — "Their scpiirting propensities only come into play 

 under provocation. !Many times I had pickvd them up with 

 the fingers — which is not easy — before I discovered the 

 habit. Only when I used the rat-tongs did 1 fiiul out what 

 they could do. The liUle jets of milky or opalescent and 

 somewhat viscid fluid come simultaneously from all the 

 pores [along each side of tlie body], and, to be on the safe 

 side, arc 10 or 12 inches high, but I think higher. The 

 animal can make a second discharge some minutes later, or 

 even a third.'' The words in square brackets in this passage 

 are Dr. Christy's, but I think he must have been under a 

 false impression with regard to the pores being on the sides 

 of the body. 1 cannot find any pores theie from which the 

 Huid could iuive been squirted, and am of the opinion that ic 

 must come from the dorsal pores, which are large and con 

 sjjicuous. With a struggling worm held in the forceps it 

 would be difficult to see exactly where the jets of fluid 

 originated. 



Un Dr. Christy's suggestion that the specific name should 

 liave reference to this [)owcr of scpiirting, I propose to call 

 the new species Dicliogasler jaculatrix. 



* A reference to the effectiveuess of the same protective liabit in 

 another (uuidentitied) earthworm in Sierra Leoun will be found in my 

 pip^r on Aspldolrilus (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Ili^t. (ji) xiv. lJl4, p. lltij. 



