198 BEDDARD. 



the fact that the clitellum does not always embrace the whole 

 of the XVIth segment. In addition to this, there is the absence 

 of anteriorly situated papillse; that is, upon segments in the 

 neighborhood of those which bear the pores of the spermathec^. 

 The existence, however, of a pair of papillse closely corresponding 

 in position with the male pores upon segments XVII and XIX 

 shows that the present species is not one of the three just de- 

 scribed and brings it into obvious relationship with P. posthuma. 

 The length of an average specimen is 70 millimeters ; its diameter, 

 3 millimeters. 



With P. postfmma I am well acquainted and have added several 

 new facts in past years " to our knowledge of its anatomy. To 

 my certain recollection many specimens at least which I have 

 examined differed very markedly from that with which I am 

 concerned in the present section of my catalogue of Philippine 

 worms in their robust build, totally different from the slender 

 worms which I call here Pheretima incerta. However, both 

 Horst and Michaelsen assert the same of that species. 



Another characteristic of the species Pheretima posthuma, 

 which I do not find in those specimens under examination, is the 

 form of the prostomium. Horst " distinctly remarks upon the 

 fact that it is prolonged backward and divides the buccal lobe. 

 Michaelsen uses the same character in his definition of the 

 species *^ ("Kopf tanylobisch") and presumably from his own 

 knowledge. Horst, furthermore, particularly points out that a 

 drawing of mine of P. posthum^a "is inaccurate and probably 

 has been made after a badly preserved worm." I do not recollect 

 now what were the characters of the example which furnished 

 that drawing. But it is clear that the slender worms which 

 present so close a likeness to P. posthuma have a prostomium 

 exactly like that which I have figured. This was the case in a 

 good many examples and, therefore, can not be merely a question 

 of poor preservation. 



In defining ^^ the species Pheretima posthuma as well as in 

 some earlier observations upon its structures, Michaelsen " em- 

 phatically records the presence of septum VIII/IX and the ab- 



^'Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1883), V, 12, 214; Ibid. (1886), V, 17, 93. 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. London (1886), 298; Ibid. (1890), 52. 



" Earthworms from the Malay Archipelago in Zool. Ergebnisse, etc., 

 Leiden (1892), 61. 



"Oligochaeta in Das Thierreich, Berlin (1900), 295. Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 London (1890), PI. V, fig. 11. 



" Oligochasta in Das Thierreich, Berlin (1900). 



^' Abhandl. Senck. naturf. Ges., 23, 201. 



