Friend: Amnnelid Bionomics. 395 
HELODRILUS OCULATUS Hoffm. 
The story of this curious worm is full of romance. Found 
more than half-a-century ago, it was named oculatus because 
it frequently shows two eye-spots on the head. It is the only 
‘earthworm ’ known in this zoological region possessed of that 
peculiarity. For many years it was lost to sight, and entered 
in all the records of the latter part of the nineteenth century 
as doubtful. Michaelsen in 18g0 found a new Allolobophora 
which he named A. hermanni. This he states in ‘ Das Tier- 
reich,’ x., 497 (1900) to be the lost H. oculatus Hoffm. Some 
years ago I found A. hermanni Mich. at Cambridge, and in 
1908 it was my good fortune to discover H. oculatus Hoffm. at 
Malvern. The problem has been to prove or disprove the 
truth of Michaelsen’s contention. This year a Dutch corres- 
pondent sent me a specimen of Helodrilus from the Hague, 
which seemed to go to Michaelsen’s favour. At Easter I paid 
a special visit to Malvern to collect living specimens of Helo- 
drilus. 1 obtained it also at Eastnor, but though cocoons 
were fairly plentiful, not a single specimen of the worms pos- 
sessed a girdle. In the Broads and at Yarmouth search was 
made for the worm in vain, but when I made an express visit 
to Cambridge, and went to the spot in the Gardens where 4. 
hermanni Mich. had formerly been obtained adult, now only 
immature H. oculatus Hoffm. was to be found! Next a visit 
was paid to Kew, but the lakes, pools, and tanks were searched 
in vain for any trace of either Helodrilus or Allolobophora. 
Yet I no sooner passed out of the gates on to the Thames, than 
the oozy mud on its banks yielded me numberless specimens of 
Helodrilus, with cocoons. There seems little doubt about the 
identity of the species. Michaelsen appears to tread on safe 
ground when he gives H. oculatus Hofim. as a synonym of 
A. hermanni Mich., but can Helodrilus produce cocoons without 
a girdle, or does the girdle appear for a brief period and then 
pass away? There is a marked difference in the size of the 
worms and also in that of the cocoons from Malvern and the 
Thames. Are the small cocoons those of worms without a 
girdle, and the large ones those of worms which have developed 
a clitellum, or what is the explanation of the phenomenon ? 
ENCHYTRAIDS. 
In February last a visit was paid to Newton Moss,. near 
Penrith, in order to decide the question whether or not annelids 
lived in peaty soil. It is not necessary here to enter into that 
question as a whole, but my discoveries, confirmed by observa- 
tions under similar conditions at Sutton Broad, are of interest. 
It will be found that wherever willows grow in bogs and mosses 
various Enchytreids abound in the soil beneath, and among 
the decaying leaves. Allusion has already been made in this 
tgrr Nov. tf. 
