1900.] ON A NEW SPECIES OE EARTHWORM. 653 



5. On the Structure of a new Species of Earthworm of the 

 genus Benhamia. By Frank E. Beddard, M.A., 

 F.R.S ., &c. 



[Received May 9, 1900.] 



Two specimens of a species of Benhamia have been kindly placed 

 in my hands by Mr. Budgett, of Trinity College, Cambridge. They 

 were collected by him on McCarthy Island on the Gambia, and 

 prove to be in an excellent state of preservation for anatomical 

 purposes. I believe them to be referable to a new species, of 

 which 1 propose to associate the name with that of Mr. Budgett. 

 The following is a description of Benhamia budgetti : — 



External characters. 



The length of one individual (the two were fairly equal in size) 

 was 116 mm., by 5 or 6 mm. in breadth. 



The buccal lobe cannot be described with accuracy as it was almost 

 entirely withdrawn into the buccal cavity. In correspondence 

 perhaps with this withdrawal, the first segment of the body was 

 deeply grooved dorsally and before backwards. 



The setse, as usual, are closely paired. All the four pairs are 

 about equidistant, and the area occupied by them collectively is about 

 5 of the circumference of the body. They do not appear to be 

 wanting upon any of the segments of the clitellum except the 

 ventral pair upon the xviith and xixth segments, where they are 

 of course replaced by the penial seta?, and, I think, the corre- 

 sponding pair upon the xviiith segment. These setas are generally, 

 but not always, absent in Benhamia. 



The clitellum occupies entirely segments xiv.-xx. inclusive, and 

 also, at least in one specimen, the latter half of segment xiii. It 

 is incomplete along a narrow ventral line which corresponds to the 

 area occupied by the ventral pairs of setse and their interspace. 

 This area forms almost a gutter owing to the bulging of the 

 integument along each side, which however does not commence 

 until the xvth segment. 



Dorsal pores are present, and are especially conspicuous at the 

 tail end of the body. 



The genital papilla of this species are not numerous. There 

 are a pair upon segment xx. which extend on to xix., and are 

 in line with the orifices of the spermiducal glands. A median papilla 

 lies upon the end of segment xx., whose area is rather less than 

 that of the two anterior papillae and their interspace. This papilla 

 was only obvious in one specimen. Finally there is a larger 

 median papilla upon the twenty-second segment, whose area 

 extends beyond the ventral setas. It is hardly to be separated from 

 the papilla in front. These papilla? are all conspicuous from their 

 white colour. 



Proc Zool. Soc— 1900, No. XL1II. 43 



