48 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON AN [Jan. 20, 



As regards the last-named species, I wish to remark that Temminck 

 was the first to separate P. smaragdonotus from its aUies, and that 

 it ought to remain under his name (amended). The " Taleve" or 

 " Poule Sultane " of BufFon, upon which the terms madagascariensis 

 and chloronotus were subsequently founded, is a composite species 

 composed of P. cceruleus and P. smaragdonotus, and these names 

 should therefore not be adopted. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On an Earthworm of the Genus Siphonogaster from West 

 Africa. By Frank E. Beddard, M.A., Prosector to the 

 Society. 



[Eeceived January 6, 1891.] 



The x\uthorities of the Royal Gardens, Kew,have kindly forwarded 

 to me some weeks since a box of Earthworms and castings from West 

 Africa. 



The worms were preserved in spirit and had been sent to Kew by 

 His Excellency Sir A. Moloney, K.C.M.G., Governor of Lagos; 

 they were collected in the Yoruba country, which lies to the north 

 of Lagos. 



A recent number of the ' Kew Bulletin ' ^ contains a very note- 

 worthy paper by Mr. Alvan Millson, Assistant Colonial Secretar3' 

 of Lagos, upon the hahits of these Earthworms^ which he had him- 

 self collected and observed. 



Unfortunately the state of preservation of the worms was not 

 good, but I have nevertheless been able to ascertain the genus to 

 which they belong, and to decide that they probably form a new 

 species of that genus. 



They are evidently referable to a very remarkable African genus, 

 SipTionog aster, which has been quite lately described by Levinsen^. 

 His description, although necessarily (through the imperfect preser- 

 vation of the specimen) incomplete, enables me to describe my species 

 as new. I name it Siphonog aster millsoni, after Mr. Alvan Millson. 



The most striking character of S. cegyptiacus, which is illustrated 

 in the plate accompanying Herr Levinsen's paper {pp. cit. pi. vii. 

 figs. 1, 2), is afforded by two appendages which are attached to the 

 ventral side of the body upon the xvith or xviith segment. These 

 appendages are of considerable size, nearly one quarter of the length 

 of the entire worm. 



Siphonogaster millsoni has the same appendages, which are very 

 much smaller, though the worm itself appears to be longer. 



The largest specimen which I examined measured about 14 inches 



1 ' Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information,' no. 46, Oct. 1890, pp. 238-244. 

 ^ " Om to nye Regnormslaegter fra Aegypten," Vidensk. Meddel. fra den 

 Naturh. Foren. i Kjobenhavn, 1889, p. 319. 



