1892.] NEW SPECIES OF EARTHWORMS. 149 



indentec] by a septum, so as to lie partially in two somites ; the 

 dorsal vessel is doubled in three somites only. 



Remarks on the genus Kynotus, Michaelsen. 



Dr. Michaelsen has recently described two species of this new 

 genus which present certain anatomical features that are so unusual 

 as to deserve a reconsideration. 



Kynotus madagascariensis ' and K. longus ' both come from 

 Madagascar. 



The description of them is very incomplete, both as regards ex- 

 ternal and internal anatomy, owing to the bad condition of the 

 specimens. These were not mature, and no cliteUum was present. 



The chcetce are absent in the anterior part of the body in the 

 first twenty-six " segments " (Mich.), so that the correct interpre- 

 tation of these external markings is a matter of considerable un- 

 certainty ; nor does the position of the nephridiopores aid us in 

 determining the value of these surface-markings, as the author does 

 not state where these pores coinmeuce ; they are in line with the inner 

 (ventral) couples of chaetse in those segments where these are present ; 

 in the anterior twenty-six " segments," however, they are on alternate 

 rings. The grooves separating the rings are stated to be well 

 marked, and in K. longus each " segment " is biannulated. 



Thus, from external characters, there is nothing to guide us to a 

 correct enumeration of the true somites. 



Internally, the septa are, in most worms, of use, to some extent at 

 least, for the determination of somites, and the position of the sperm- 

 sacs and ovaries is so generally constant that these organs are 

 frequently of considerable help in confirming any otherwise doubtful 

 determination of somites. 



But according to Michaelsen's view of the anatomy of these two 

 worms, the first septum lies between "segments" 7 and 8 ; and the 

 ninth septum between "segments" 23 and 24; so that two "seg- 

 ments " (instead of a single one as is usually the case) occur between 

 every two successive septa. Behind the ninth septum, however, the 

 condition of things usual in Oligochacta obtains. But although there 

 are two "segments," yet there is only one pair ofnephridia. 



Michaelsen gives no information as to the condition of the vascular 

 or nervous system, which might have aided us in solving the difficulty 

 as to the value of his " segments." 



When I read his description of these worms I was reminded of 

 my own difficulty in determining the value of the external rings and 

 the hmits of the somites in Microchceta rappi, and this difficulty 

 still further impressed itself on me when I examined the specimens 

 of the two new species of the genus described in the present paper ; 

 at first I reckoned as somites the markings which I have above 

 termed " annuli." 



Now, when we consider the very abnormal condition of things 



* Michaelsen, Arch. f. Naturgesch. 1891. 



» Michaelsen, Jahrb. d. Hamburg, wiss. Anstalt, ix. 1891. 



