1892.] OF THE GENUS PERICH^TA. 163 



There are two pairs of receptacula ovorum in segments xiii. ^ and 

 xiv. respectively. Those of segment xiii. lie above the ovaries. 



The three pairs of spermathecce lie in segments vi., vii., and viii. 

 The oval pouch of the spermatheca has a long narrow duct : the 

 diverticulum has the same form but is much smaller ; it is hardly as 

 long as the duct of the main pouch. 



Perich^ta taproban^, n. sp. 



The following description is based upon the examination of some 

 half-dozen examples of a Perichceta from Ceylon. The specimens 

 were collected a good many years ago by Prof. Moseley and were 

 deposited by him in the Oxford University Museum. Mr. W. 

 Hatchett Jackson was so good as to place them in my hands for 

 identification and description. The worms were labelled " Perichceta 

 cingulata" and I presume therefore that they agreed with 

 Schmarda's coloured figure of that species ^. As, however, Schmarda's 

 description of the species is not by any means sufficient for 

 identification, I do not think it safe, in the present state of our 

 knowledge of this genus of Earthworms, to define any species by 

 colour only. 



M. Vaillant^, to whom we are indebted for the first anatomical 

 account of Perichcsta, identified six Earthworms in the Paris Museum 

 with P. cingulata, apparently basing this identification upon the 

 shape of the setee. The futility of such a character is shown by the 

 fact that Perrier * was rightly able to distinguish several distinct 

 species among the individuals which were all called " Perichceta 

 cingulata " by Vaillant. The name " cingulata " was applied by 

 Schmarda in the belief that the species was characterized by pos- 

 sessing a clitellum. It is not, however, on this ground that I think 

 it desirable to drop the name Perichmta cingulata altogether. 

 Vaillant's Perichceta cingulata according to Perrier ^ is practically 

 indistinguishable from the Pei'ichcBta posthuma oi the same author; 

 and it is impossible to be certain that they are different from Perrier's 

 Perichceta affinis — so at least Prof. Perrier thinks, and Dr. Horst ® 

 agrees with him. But I do not follow Perrier in retaining the name 

 PerichcBta cingulata for Perichceta posthuma, since there are really 



^ Fletcher (" Notes on Australian Earthworms, Part III.," Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 N. S. W. ser. 2, vol. ii. p. 394) describes in FericlicBta canaliculata " a pair of 

 smooth white sacs " lying above the ovaries in segment xiii., which are doubtless the 

 same structures. Two pairs of these bodies occur in several species of Perichwta. 



^ ' Neue wirbellose Thiers,' Ed. ii. p. 16, pi. xviii. fig. 162. 



^ " Note sur I'Anatomie de deux Especes du Genre Perichcsta, &c.," Ann. Sci. 

 Nat. 5« ser. t. x. p. 225. 



* Loc. cit. 



' Loc. cit. p. 114. 



^ " Descriptions of Earthworms, V.," Notes Leyden Mus. vol. xii. p. 232. It 

 should be remarked, however, that Vaillant neither figures nor describes setse 

 upon the clitellum; he remarks, indeed, " la ceinture seule en [des soies] est 

 privee." They are present in Perichcsta affinis, so that probably Dr. Horst's 

 earlier (Midden-Sumatra, Vermes, p. 4) identification of P. cingulata (of 

 Vaillant) with Perichwta indica was more correct. 



