298 NOTE — WORMS. 



After tea at the Angel, Mr. Vice-President Burton, who occupied 

 the chair, apologised for the absence of Canon Fowler, President 

 of the Union, and after complimenting the Society on the number of 

 ladies the county possessed who devoted their attention to science, 

 he congratulated the party on having had so able a leader as 

 Mr. Davies, who knew the district he lived in so thoroughly, and 



who had worked at its geology with such zeal and ability. A hearty 

 vote of thanks was passed to the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Ancaster, 

 and to Messrs. R. M. Mills and E. B. Binns for the permission to 

 visit the estates traversed. 



NOTE— IV OHMS. 



Fresh-water Oligochaeta.— The publication of Mr. Beddard's • Monograph of 

 the Oligocholia,' reviewed in Nat., Mch. 1896, p. 77, suggests the idea that the time 

 has come when the north-country species should receive more systematic attention. 

 For some years past I have been collecting, and making notes upon, the specimens 

 which have come in my way during my investigations among the terricolous 

 species, and I propose from time to time to send notices of the same to the 

 1 Naturalist. 5 It may be observed, however, that no hard and fast line can be 

 drawn between aquatic and land species, so that the term aquatic or fresh-water 

 is employed simply to distinguish the species to be studied from the well-known 

 earthworms, including the genera Lumbriciis> Allolobophora^ and Allurus. Of 

 ail the localities which I have inspected I know none so rich as the rivers and 

 becks of Yorkshire, which, like the Aire, are associated with the refuse and off- 

 scourings of our large mills. A dip among the ooze and decaying matter found 

 here will instantly reward the collector, who will sometimes spend hours in an 

 almost fruitless search among the pure mountain torrents and unpolluted streamlets 

 of more sequestered regions. In Cumberland, for example, none but experienced 

 collectors would be able to find materials enough to repay them for the task of 

 searching ponds and ditches, rivers and lakes ; though such examination has 

 yielded me more than one valuable result. I shall be glad to receive specimens 

 from different localities for description and record in these pages. They should 

 be sent, if possible, alive. If placed in small tins or wide-mouthed bottles, with 

 damp moss and some of the material amongst which they are found, they will 

 come fresher and with less risk than if sent in water or earth. As they are usually 

 very fragile they should be so packed that the contents of the case do not batter 

 them in transit. They range in colour from white to yellow, red, brown, green, 

 and muddy ; and wherever there is water, decaying matter, or anything putrid or 

 humid, there is the possibility of turning up a treasure. 



I may here record a species belonging to a widely-spread genus with a terrestrial 

 habit — Henlea leptodera (Vejd.); Beddard, Monograph of Oligochmta % p. j$i. I* 1 

 my note-book I find the following entry under Enchytnem leptodents (one of the 

 synonyms) :— * Found in the Apperley Road, from Idle to Woodhouse Grove, between 



ris in the gutter. Specimens 

 Essex in 1892.' On turning 

 up my Essex notes and drawings I find that it was Henlea ventriculosa (D'Udekem) 

 which I received from there, and not H. leptodera. Seeing that my notes on the 

 group differ in several particulars from those of other investigators, that our 

 British species are practically unknown, and that the genus has not even yet been 

 got into satisfactory shape, there is every reason to hope that much good work 

 remains to be done in connection with this section. Beddard thus defines the 



species :— ■ Length, 20 mm. ; number of segments, 60 ; setae straight, 4 to 7 ( m 

 each bundle, of which four bundles occur in each segment ). Two oesophageal 



lands, with simple lumen (one pair of spermathecce). Hab.— Europe, Siberia. 



'emstrial.'— Hilderic Friend, Cockermnuth. 



Naturalist, 



