On some Earthworms from India and Palestine. 120 



Vlir. — Oil some Earthworms from India and Palestine he- 

 longiny to the British Museum. By J. Stephenson, M.B., 

 D.Sc, Lecturer iu Zoology, University of Ecliuburgh. 



On recently reading a paper by !Mr. C. R. Narayan Rao, of 

 tlie University of Mysore, on " The Anatomy of some new 

 Species of Drawida^'' iu the November number of this 

 Magazine (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 9, vol. viii. No. 47, 

 Nov. 1921, p. 49G), 1 was struck by the extraordinary 

 ciiaracters of the worms ; a number of their peculiarities 

 seemed to be altogether irreconcilable with what we know of 

 the anatom)' of this genus, and I felt that I could not 

 possibly admit Mr. Rao's species into the volume I am 

 preparing on the Indian Oligochaeta for the ' Fauna of 

 British India ^ series without some corroboration of these 

 anomalous features. I accordingly applied to the British 

 IMuseum, "where Mr. Rao has deposited his types, to have 

 these sent to me. The Museum authorities very kindly sent 

 me the worms, and 1 owe them my thanks for so promptly 

 acceding to my request. 



I find, as 1 had suspected, that Mr. Rao's accounts are in 

 many respects incorrect, and especiallj* so where they 

 describe characters otherwise unknown in tlie genus. I 

 take one of liis worms — the first — as an example. 



The specific name is spelt differently in his paper {soma- 

 varpatana) and on the label (somvarpatana) ; the place 

 where it was taken is called Somavarpataua in the paper, 

 Somvarpat on the label ; the number of segments is given 

 as 80-90, but the type-specimen has 124. The male pores 

 are said to be large slits; I find them to be not slit-like, 

 but puckered orifices with tumid lips. Unlike Mr. Rao, I 

 was unable to distinguish externally the female and spcrma- 

 thecal pores ; but from internal examination the spermathecal 

 pores are considerably further from the middle line than is 

 stated by him. The gizzards are (as always in the genus) 

 segmental structures, and the three present in the type- 

 specimen occupy segments xvi.-xviii. Mr. Rao, honever, 

 apparently thinks that the gizzards in this genus may take 

 up more than one segment, and in this species, according to 

 him, the three to five gizzards occupy segments xiv.-xxi. 



Mr. Rao describes two pairs of sperm- sacs (such a 

 character would at once remove the worm to another genus), 

 the first pair suspended by septum 8/9 or connected with 

 8/9 (an unknown position for the sacs), while the second 

 pair are said lo "lie in somite x., having very early in de- 

 velopment detached themselves from the septum 9/10.'"' 



Ann. (jD May. X. Hist. Ser. 9. Vol. ix. ^ 



