THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 133 



for a short time, but was soon withdrawn right into the body of its 

 owner again. It was then shot out three times in quick succes- 

 sion with great suddenness and rapidity, and each time (except 

 the last) again completely withdrawn into the body. After shoot- 

 ing out its proboscis for the fourth time the animal seemed 

 exhausted, and as the proboscis seemed inclined to remain out 

 and stick to my hand, I thought it advisable to put it in spirits 

 at once. 



I shall never forget my astonishment and almost horror when 

 the great white slimy-looking proboscis was shot out over the 

 back of my hand without a moment's warning, and as quick as 

 lightning. The animal which had thus startled me, however, 

 proved to be a very lucky find, and after much careful searching 

 on subsequent days I found two more. Like the Planarians they 

 belong to a group of typically marine worms, the group to which 

 they belong — the Nemertinea — being, indeed, nearly related to the 

 Planarians. Terrestrial Nemertines are, however, very much 

 rarer than terrestrial Planarians, and according to Jackson only 

 four species are known. These are — Tetrastemma agricola, from 

 the Bermudas ; Tetrastemma rodericanmn, from the Rodriguez 

 Island ; Geonemestes pahiensis, from the Pelew Islands; and Geone- 

 mestes chalicophora, mentioned as doubtfully coming from Aus- 

 tralia. 



It is possible that the specimens found at Walhalla may belong 

 to the last-named species, but as even the country of the latter is 

 doubtful, it is probable that not very much is known about it, 

 and pretty certain that it has never been studied in the living 

 state. Unfortunately it was described by Graff in a publication 

 — the Morphologisches Jahrbuch — which appears to be unobtain- 

 able in Melbourne. 



The terrestrial Nemertines are distinguished from the terrestrial 

 Planarians by the arrangement of the alimentary canal. Instead 

 of having a medianly placed sucker perforated by an o, ening 

 which serves alike for mouth and arms, they have, like the earth- 

 worm, a mouth at one end of the body and a distinct arm at the 

 other. Their most characteristic feature, however, is the long 

 protrusible proboscis. This, when not in use, is packed away in 

 a long tubular sheath lying along the animal's back, and it can, 

 as we have seen, be shot out with lightning-like rapidity from the 

 anterior end of the body. 



A distinguished naturalist, the late Dr. Van Willemoes Suhm, 

 who accompanied the Challenger expedition, and unfortunately 

 died on the voyage, discovered a terrestrial Nemertine {Tetra- 

 stemma agricola) living in damp earth on the Bermuda Islands. 

 He states that the proboscis is shot out and its extremity then 

 fixed to some object by means of a number of papillse with which 

 it is provided, and that the body of the animal is then drawn up 



