144 Mr Shipley, On the Occurrence of Bipalium [Feb. 9, 



the space of some minutes by dropping upon a grate covered with 

 blacking ; Mr Fletcher (6) states that in Sydney, where they ap- 

 peared in considerable numbers, they were constantly found either 

 moribund or dead on the pavement, the surface of which ap- 

 parently did not agree with them, and the living specimens which 

 were kindly sent to Cambridge by Mr L. Birch unfortunately 

 crawled on to the sides of a glass bottle and there died. Mr 

 Harmer tells me that the same fate overtook some specimens of 

 Rhynchodemus terrestris which had found their way on to a glass 

 surface. This extreme sensibility to the contact of foreign sub- 

 stances seems strange when we remember what a copious coating 

 of mucus these animals can produce at will. 



Bipalium Kewense lives on earthworms, insects, etc. and probably, 

 like the other species of the same genus whose habits have been 

 investigated, it is entirely carnivorous, and does little harm to the 

 orchids and other plants with which it may be associated. Some 

 species devour small molluscs as well as earthworms, the radula of 

 a snail having been found within a Bipalium from the Philippines 

 (12). B. javanum (14) eats small Gastropods; its pharynx, which 

 envelopes the body of the animal, shell and all, being powerful 

 enough to crush the shell, the pieces of which do not pass into the 

 alimentary canal, and are either rejected or possibly dissolved by 

 the secretion of the numerous glands which open into the pha- 

 rynx. At present there is no evidence to show that these animals 

 are ever vegetable feeders. 



Like most other Turbellarians, Bipalium is hermaphrodite ; 

 but it also reproduces by transverse fission, and this may to some 

 extent account for the great variation in length in individuals 

 found in the same locality, and also for the not unfrequent absence 

 of the semilunar head. B. javanum is protandrous, the male 

 organs being mature in July and August, the egg-cocoons not 

 being deposited till October or November (14). 



The faculty of depositing considerable quantities of mucus is 

 one of the most remarkable characteristics of these animals ; their 

 path can be traced by a slimy tract which quickly dries up. Prof. 

 Jeffrey Bell's (1) observations tend to show that in Bipalium 

 Kewense the mucus is secreted by the anterior end of the body : 

 this observer is of opinion that the secretion may serve to entangle 

 offending bodies, and possibly also helps to catch objects which serve 

 as food. In some of the tropical species this mucus is very 

 copious, and hardens into threads by means of which the animals 

 suspend themselves. They are occasionally blown, hanging at 

 the end of their threads, from one stem or branch to another, like 

 the young of many species of spiders. 



The specimens which were sent to Cambridge had unfor- 

 tunately crawled on to the inner surface of the glass bottle in 



