AND ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN OLIGOCH^TA. 119 



Y. — On Bbawida japonica (Mclilsn.) ; a Contribution to the 

 Anatomy of the Moniligastridjs. 



The Moniligastridse are a family of Oligochfeta with a rather 

 restricted range. Except for the recently discovered Syngeno- 

 chihis, which difFeis very considerably from all other members of 

 the family, they are endemic only in India (mainly the South), 

 Bui-ma, and certain islands of the Malay Archipelago ; a few 

 species of the largest and best known genus, Draivida, however, 

 have been able to spread more widely, and have been found in 

 Japan, China, and certain islands of the Pacific. The writings 

 of Beddard, Benham, Bourne, Rosa, and Michaelsen have eluci- 

 dated the anatomy of the several genera, and in a number of 

 cases, by means of sections, the finer structure also. Since, 

 however, the worms occur for the most part in localities remote 

 from centres of population, writers on the group have as a rule 

 been dependent for th^ir material on collections made by others, 

 without, it is to be supposed, any special methods of fixation. 

 While such material is adequate for systematic work (for which 

 it has generally been used), it is often quite hopeless as a basis 

 for more minute investigations. The only students of the group 

 who have had the opportunity of fixing living material foi' 

 themselves appear to be Beddard (7), who received specimens of 

 Draioida bahamensis alive from Kew Gardens, and Bourne (11), 

 who collected his own material on theNilgiris in Southern India. 

 These authors do not, however, indicate the methods the}^ employed 

 for fixation. 



A few years ago one of my pupils, Mr. G. S. Thapar, M.Sc, 

 now Professor at the Canning College, Lucknow, brought back 

 with ' him to Lahore from Murree in the W. Himalayas a 

 considerable number of living specimens of Draivida japonicus, 

 one of the peregrine species of the genus. These were kept foi- 

 some days in the laboratory in scraps of moist blotting paper, 

 and the alimentary canal having been freed in tliis way from 

 earth, they were, after narcotization, fixed in Zenker's solution. 

 Some specimens were dissected, .and .others sectioned, both 

 transversely and longitudinally, and ,the sections stained with 

 Delafield's haematoxylin followed by eosin. The chief attention 

 has been devoted to the nejjhridia and the genital organs. 



Of the nephridiain the genus Draioida, or in the family, we 

 possess nothing that can be called. a detailed description. 



The general anatomy of the reproductive organs in the genus 

 is, however, well known, and may be summarized as follows : — 



The testes are one pair, enclosed each with its funnel in paired 

 testis sacs, which have a peculiar position; they are suspended 

 by septum 9/10, fairly high up in the body-cavity, projecting- 

 sometimes more on the posterior, sometimes more on the anterior, 

 side, sometimes equally on both sides of the septum. The vas 

 deferens leaves the sac, and descends, Avith many twists and coils, 



