[Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 32 (N.S.), Pt. II., 1920]. 



.Art. XIX. — On the Structure of a New Species of Earthworm 

 from South Australia, Megascolex fletcheri. 



By jean H. shannon, B.Sc. 



(Communicated by Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer). 



[Read December 11th, 1919]. 

 (With Plates XXVII.-XXXI.) 



Up to the present time, though a large number of species of 

 earthworms has been described from Australia, more especially by 

 Dr. Michaelsen,! from South-West Australia, Prof. Spencer, 2 and 

 Mr. J. J. Fletcher, 3 from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland 

 .and Tasmania, there has, as yet, been published only one more or 

 less complete detailed account of one type of Australian earth- 

 worm — Megascolides australis. The species now described repre- 

 sents another type, differing in important respects from Megasco- 

 lides, and, on the suggestion of Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer, I 

 have attempted to describe its structure as completely as possible. 

 The work has been carried on in the Zoological Department of the 

 Melbourne University. 



I have followed the classification suggested by Michaelsen.^ The 

 species evidently belongs to the genus Megascolex, as defined by 

 him, and I propose for it the name of Megascolex fletcheri, the 

 ^specific name having reference to the first naturalist who made 

 -a study of Australian earthworms. 



Habit. 



The material dealt with in this paper was collected in South 

 Australia at a spot about ten miles due east from Kapunda, the 

 latter being a town situated in an agricultural district. 



1. Michaelsen. — " Die Fauna Siidwest-Australiens," erster Bund, 1907-1908, 

 pp, 117-232. 



2. Spencer. — " The Anatomy of Megascolides australis." Trans. Roy. 

 Soc. Vic, Vol. I., Part I., 1882. " Preliminary Notice of Tasmanian Earth- 

 worm," op. cit. 1894. 



3. Fletcher. — A series of six papers, the first of which, " Notes on Aus- 

 tralian Earthworms, Part I.," was published in Proc. Linn. Soc, Vol. I., Series 



:2, 1886, p. 523. The remaining five were published in the same Proceedings 

 -;in 1886, 1887, 1889, respectively. 



4. Michaelsen. — op. cit. p. 160^. 



