168 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON A LARGE EARTHWORM. [Mar. 16, 



and new localities \ I am inclined to think that such information will 

 support Dr. Giiuther's supposition that the worm has become 

 acclimatized in this country ; Mr. Dyer tells me that it is still to be 

 found in the Kew hothouses, where it has now lived since at any rate 

 the beginning of 1878. 



Prof. Moseley was able to observe in Ceylon that Bipalium 

 suspends itself by the tough slime which it secretes. My specimen had 

 no opportunity of showing if it could so support itself; but I noticed 

 that minute offending objects could be got rid of by being entangled 

 in the slime which it secreted, and which, being gradually secreted 

 from a point, say, one inch behind the head forwards, was as a 

 continuous sheet of mucus thrown off from the anterior end. A 

 small earthworm which was placed near it, but which was not attacked, 

 had the same mucous sheet thrown over it, to its obvious embar- 

 rassment. 



There can be no doubt as to the sensitiveness of Bipalium to light. 

 The specimen now under notice was sent by Mr. Salvin on February 

 7th, lived and was more or less active till February 26th ; for this 

 interval of time the town was either enveloped in fog, or surrounded 

 by a darkness which needed not to be called back to our recollection. 



But on the 26th of February the sun shone, and though the 

 room in which the Planarian had been placed was not illuminated 

 by its rays, yet the exposure to diffuse light, which on other and 

 earlier days had been harmless, was on this day fatal ; the worm 

 broke transversely into three pieces, and on being touched fell into 

 four. Had it been kept in darkness it is possible it might have lived 

 longer. The temperature of the room varied from about 50° to 64° F. 



DESCEIPTION OP PLATE XVIII. 



Illustrating the various forms assumed by Bipalium kewense. 



A. Extended and moving freely. B, 0. In various states of contraction. 

 D-d-. Some of the various forms taken by the head. H. Head and anterior 

 end after contraction in spirit. I. The worm coiled and at rest. 



All the figures are of the natural size. 



4. Note on the Structure of a large Species of Earthworm 

 from New Caledonia. By Prank E. Beddard, M.A., 

 F.R.S.E., Prosector to the Society. 



[Received March 15, 1886.] 



(Plate XIX.) 



Among a number of Earthworms forwarded to me from New 

 Caledonia, through the kindness of Mr. E. L. Layard, F.Z.S., H.B.M. 

 Consul at Noumea, were six specimens of a large worm several of 

 which measured some 28 inches in length. All these specimens are 

 referable to the same species, which belongs to the genus Acantho- 



^ Specimens have been found in the Zoological Society's Gardens, which 

 have, and in gardens at Liverpool which have not had direct relations with Kew. 



