new African Earthworm, 457 



The following is an attempt to summarize, in tlic form of 

 a brief diagnosis, the chief characteristics of the species : — 



Dichoyaster jaculatrix, sp. n. 



Length (in spirit) 18-3-1 cm. ; thickness 10 mm. ; number of 

 seyments about 180. Colour iridescent yi-eenish blue, with a 

 jjurplish transverse band on each seyment dorsally. Pro- 

 stutnium enters sliyhtly into peristomiuni. Clitellum xiii.—xxii. 

 (xxiii.). Genital area houry lass-shaped , xvii.-xix. Penial 

 setce smooth, straiyht, tip narrower and sliyhtly hooked, ■with- 

 out ornamentation. Seminal yutters convex inwardly. No 

 genital papilloi. Dorsal pores beyin at vjvi. Pores {x./xi.), 

 xi./xii., {xii./xiii.) missiny. Septa vi./vii.—viii jix. absent. 

 Nephridia in the form of a double series of lobes in each sey- 

 ment, supported by a transverse mesentery. Funnels present 

 only in posterior seyments. Spermathecce with 1-3 small 

 sessile diverticula visible externally . Spermatophures of 

 characteristic form usually present in spermathecce. 



Hub. Ituri Forest, Belgian Congo; in wet ibrest districts, 

 amony; dead leaves. 



Note on the Spei'mathejce and Spermatophores. 



The spermathecse and their contents in this worm are of 

 peculiar interest, and give rise to questions of a very puzzling 

 nature. 



In some other species of Dichoyaster certain objects have 

 been seen in the spermathecse by the deseribers, which have 

 been regarded by them as spermatophores. Our present 

 knowledge of them is mainly due to the researches of Beddard, 

 who lias mentioned them in his descriptions of Z). [Benhamia) 

 nioorei* and D. austenif, and has also devoted a special 

 j>aper + to the discussion of those seen in the latter species. 

 Michaelsen had also, previously to Beddard's memoir, made 

 a brief reference to structures of a similar kind in D. {Ben- 

 hamia) monticola and D. itoliensis §. 



Of these various instances, the structures described by 

 Beddard for D. austeni are certainly the most similar to 

 those which I have observed in the present species. 



Besides those of Dichoyaster., the spermatophores of some 

 other genera of earthworms are also of a more or less similar 



* P. Z. S. 1901, ii. p. 197. 



1 T. c. p. 209. t T. c. p. 704. 



§ "Die Kegt'invurmer Ost-Alrikas," in * Dtutsch-Ost-Afrilia,' pp. 27 

 &28. 



