V I .— T HE FAUNA OF BRACKIvSH PONDS AT 

 PORT CANNING, LOWER BENGAL. 



Part VIII. — Preliminary Description of an Oijgoch/Ete 

 Worm of Uncertain Position. 



By J. vStephenson, Major, I. M.S., Professor of Biology, 

 Government College, Lahore. 



The worm which forms the subject of the f oho wing notice 

 was sent to me along with a colony of Victor ella pavida (on which, 

 as well as on Bowerhankia cattdata and Loxosomatoides , it lives) 

 by Dr. Annandale, having been found by him in the brackish 

 pools at Port Canning. The specimens were in a good state of 

 preservation ; but^ with the exception of the general outlines 

 of the alimentary canal, details of internal anatomy are scarcely 

 to be recognised in preserved specimens ; and the following descrip- 

 tion has mainly to do with the general external characters and the 

 set8e. 



The worms were whitish in colour, and measured (probably 

 in a somewhat contracted condition) from i"5 to 4'5 mm. in length ; 

 the average was from 3 to 4 mm. There is a well-marked pro- 

 stomium, bluntly conical in shape ; the anterior part of the body 

 is somewhat swollen in an ovoid manner ; then follows a short, 

 slightly constricted region ; after which the body, enlarging again, 

 maintains a cylindrical shape to the posterior end. It is possible 

 that in preserved specimens the anterior end appears more swollen 

 than during life, since the setal bundles are placed closer together 

 here ; the anterior portion of the body having contracted more, 

 probably, than the posterior. There are no eyes. 



Fig. I. — Side view of anterior part of body, showing the arrangement of the 

 setal bundles of one side : pr., prostoniiuin. 



The number of segments varies from about 20 to about 30. 

 The posterior, regularly cylindrical part of the bod}^ is consti- 

 tuted by all the segments after the tenth, the anterior ovoid por- 

 tion comprises the first eight or nine, and the constricted region 



