Zoological Notes. 209 



of Nature, Mr Benliam noted the occurrence of Allurus 

 tetraeclrus in England, and stated tliat his specimens had 

 been collected in a stream. During August of last year, 

 I discovered this worm to be very abundant in the river at 

 Bickleigli near Plymouth. The river was not at all flooded, 

 and as the worms were tolerably abundant, it seems to me 

 to be fairly certain that they were not accidentally present. 

 Professor Vejdovsky has also recorded the fact that Allurus 

 is found in streams in Bohemia ; so there can be but little 

 doubt that it is partially aquatic in its habit ; it can certainly 

 live equally well in the soil, as I have had the opportunity 

 of examining some examples which Mr E. B. Poulton was 

 good enough to collect for me in the island of Teneriffe. 

 I have lately received a collection of 01igoch?eta from the 

 Falkland Islands through the kindness of Mr Dale ; I had 

 particularly asked that gentleman to collect aquatic as well 

 as terrestrial Oligocha^ta ; I received two fresh-water species 

 belonging to the genus Acanthodrilus, which has been 

 hitherto supposed to be a purely terrestrial form. One of 

 these species proves to be A. georgianus (Michaelsen), 

 recently described, from South Georgia ; the other is a new 

 species. There is no doubt, from what Dr Dale tells me, that 

 these species are really aquatic. 



I am not aware that any exact observations have been 

 made as to the length of time which various species of 

 earthworms can survive when placed in water; it is clear, 

 however, that many species can live for a long time — several 

 months, according to Perrier — in fresh water. On the other 

 hand it is quite a usual sight, after rain, to see numerous 

 worms lying dead in the rain puddles ; Darwin has suggested 

 that these are individuals in a dead or dying condition, 

 which have been washed out of their burrows. Mr W. 

 W. Smith, in an interesting paper upon the habits of JSTew 

 Zealand earthworms {Trans. N. Z. Instit., vol. xix., p. 129), 

 holds that these individuals are really drowned, in some 

 cases at least. It seems to me probable that in many cases 

 the dead worms lying in the rain puddles have been killed 

 by the sun's rays heating the water. Although there is no 

 doubt that earthworms can live in water, I am not aware oi 



