62 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON A [DeC. 12, 



9, On a new Enchytrseid Worm {Henlea lefroyi, sp. n.) from 

 India destructive to the Eo;gs of a Locust (Acridium sp.). 

 By Feank E. Beddard, M.A., F.R.S., Prosector to the 

 Society. 



[Received October 5, 1905.] 



Dr. S. F. Harmer, F.E.S., of King's College, Cambridge, was 

 so good as to forward to me recently a tube of small white worms 

 for identification and study. These had been sent to him from 

 India by Mr. H. Maxwell Lefi"oy, Entomologist to the Government 

 of India, who discovered that they attacked and destroyed the eggs 

 of a locust belonging to the genus Acridium when the ground in 

 which those eggs were deposited is moist. 



Dr. Harmer directed my attention to the fact that they were 

 Oligocheetous worms ; they prove to be a species of the family 

 Enchytraeidse, and were in a good state of preservation for 

 microscopical examination. The family, as is well kuown, occurs 

 in damp earth as well as in water ; it is not so purely aquatic as 

 are some of the families of the " Microdrih." 



The species appears to be new, and presents a certain number 

 of characteis which in combination render its inclusion in any 

 already defined genus ditficult. I shall, however, describe its 

 characters before proceding to discuss its systematic position. 



The species is small , 3-4 mm. in length and, as, already mentioned, 

 white. The setw are curved and of the usual Enchytrteid form ; 

 they are, however, rather few in number in each bundle, though 

 present upon all the segments of the body, with the exception of 

 the first and apparently the twelfth (in the mature worm with a 

 clitellum). The lateral bundles j)ossess tivo setse apiece, and the 

 ventral bundles three ; very occasionally I observed thiee setae in 

 a dorsal bundle. This arrangement extends fi'om end to end of 

 the body. 



The mtmber of segments in a large specimen is 27. 



I could detect no dorsal pores. 



The clitellitm and other external characters call for no 

 remark. 



The alimsntcory canal shows certain characters which assist in 

 the placing of the species. Peptonephridia are present and of 

 very small length, though I am unable to give any details con- 

 cerning them. The oesophagus appears to pass without any break 

 into the intestine ; I can find no demarcation between these two 

 sections of the gut. Behind the clitellum the gut is of course 

 much wider than it is in front of that region of the body. 

 Furthermore, I can discover no Cfeca or pouches of anj^ description 

 appended to the gut. It is a simple tube without outgrowths. 

 The septal glands of this species extend back as far as the sixth 

 segment, in which the last pair occur ; in front of this pair and 

 in segments iv. and v. are equally prominent pairs of septal 

 elands. 



