150 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



lateralis, as well as two very large specimens of Cardiosoma guanhumi (known as the 

 " crabe blau " in the Antilles), were procured by the other naturalists. These latter crabs 

 had been caught by torch-light in the sand hills of the interior, as they leave their holes 

 only at night. We also procured large specimens of what is known as the Soldier-crab 

 (Grapsus pictus), and which can be seen living and fighting in great numbers on the rocky 



shores of the south coast of Bermuda, where in 

 April we saw many of their cast-off skins. 



" In the moist brown earth, near the edges 

 of the Mangrove swamp, I found besides &Lum- 

 bricus, a white slimy worm, shooting out a pro- 

 boscis when touched, which showed clearly that 

 it was a Land Nemertine (fig. 62). It belonged 

 to the genus Tetrastemma. It differs little 

 from the Tetrastemma obscurum described by 

 Max Schultze from the Baltic ; I have named 

 it Tetrastemma agricola. Only two other ter- 

 restrial Nemertines are as yet known, one 

 discovered by Semper in the Philippine Islands, 

 and a second found in hot-houses in Europe, 

 evidently imported from some unknown 

 tropical region. 1 When irritated the worm 

 darts out its armed proboscis as an aid in 

 progression, fixing its tip to a distant point 

 and then drawing the body up to the point by 

 fig. 62.-Lau<i Nemertine, Tetrastemma mjricvU Suhm contracting the protruded organ. The animal 



(young male). Pt 1-4, Successive portions of the pro- ox o 



i, pouch of i s ciliated all over, and has two pairs of eyes. 

 The earth in which it lives contains a good 

 deal of salt. It is very probable that these 

 Nemerteans live in the tropics in the same regions as do the land Planarians, but, 

 owing to their being less conspicuous, they have hitherto been overlooked. A good many, 

 both old and young, were caught, and kept alive for some time in glasses, in some of 

 the earth in which I found them. 2 



" I made an excursion to Harrington Sound, with the view of looking for specimens 

 of the Nebalia (Paranebalia, Claus) 3 which Murray had found there in~ April, and was for- 

 tunate enough to find, under stones and on the under surface of Agaricia fragilis, many 

 females and some males of this interesting Crustacean, which are likely to throw some 



1 Others have been discovered, since the above was written, in the Mascarene Islands and elsewhere. 



2 On a Land Nemertean found at the Bermudas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. xiii. pp. 409-41 1, pi. xvii., 1874. 



3 This species has since been erected into a new genus, under the name Paranebalia longipes, by Claus, Grundziige 

 der Zoologie, 4th ed., 1880, p. 576. 



stylets ; i, glandular portion ; ca, muscular entrance of 

 glandular portion ; o, mouth ; i, intestine ; g, ganglion ; 

 n, lateral nerves. 



