1862.] SIR J. E. TENNENT ON MEGASCOLEX C^RULEUS. 25 



coloured, and containing only a few blackened ova ; the oviduct is 

 spotted with dark patches, and considerably contracted. 



And thirdly, in birds with the male plumage predominating over 

 that of the female, the ovarium is reduced to a small dark amorphous 

 mass, resembling coagulated blood, the presence of ova cannot be 

 detected, and the oviduct is almost entirely obliterated at its junction 

 with the ovarium. Thus it seems that there are three distinct phases 

 in this peculiar abnormal state of the generative functions. 



I have also noticed that, in most cases where the male plumage is 

 in excess of the female, the tail-feathers are particularly long, some 

 being as much as 19 inches in length. 



Although Mr. Yarrell states that this condition of the female 

 generative organs is not confined to the PhasianidcB, and that it has 

 occurred in the gold and silver pheasants, partridges, pea- fowl, com- 

 mon fowl, common pigeon, king-fisher, and common duck, and that 

 other classes of animals are liable to an influence similar in kind, 

 particularly among insects and Crustacea, yet this disorganization is 

 rarely observed except among the PhasianidcB, and particularly when 

 these birds are produced in a domestic state, i. e. on the present 

 system of breeding pheasants in preserves. Very few battues take 

 place in which some of these birds (generally designated mules) are 

 not killed and mixed indiscriminately with the heaps of the slain. 



As to the cause of this disorganization, if it occurred only in the 

 old female, or if it were a common occurrence among birds either of 

 different genera or of the same genus, it could be easily accounted for ; 

 but when it is generally found existing among a class of birds which 

 are bred in vast numbers in a particularly artificial manner, it leads 

 one to suppose that the cause must be connected with this condition. 

 Whether the eggs laid by a number of females — to whom perhaps, 

 from circumstances, too few males have been admitted — have been 

 imperfectly fecundated, and therefore the chick improperly formed, 

 remains a subject for future consideration. 



2. Note on the Gigantic Earth-worm (Megascolex c^ru- 

 LEusj FROM Ceylon. By Sir James Emerson Tennent, 

 K.C.B., V.P.Z.S., ETC. 



[In 1853 the British Museum received, through Mr. Hugh Cuming, 

 two specimens of a large Earth-worm from Ceylon, which is evi- 

 dently the Megascolex cceruleus described by Dr. Templeton in the 

 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society ' for 1844, p. 89. 



A few days ago Sir James Emerson Tennent kindly procured from 

 Ceylon, and sent to the British Museum, a specimen of the same 

 worm, and, in reply to my inquiries respecting the habits and verna- 

 cular name of the animal, sent to me the following letter, which, 

 with his permission, I lay before the Society. — John Edward 

 Gray. British Museum, Feb. 11, 1862.] 



