ARTICLE XXVII.-ON LAND PLANARIANS FROM AUCKLAND AND 



ENDERBY ISLANDS. 



By Arthur Dendy, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.Z.S., Sec. Linn. Soc, Professor of Zoology in King's College 



(University of London). 



I RECEIVED from Professor Benham four specimens of land planarians — two from 

 x\uckland Island and two from Enderby Island — unfortunately without any notes 

 of the colours in life. I understand that Mr. George Marriner also collected a few 

 land planarians on Campbell Island in November, 1907. I have received his notes 

 on the colours of these, but have not seen the specimens themselves, which I am 

 therefore unable to report upon. 



The only land planarian hitherto described from the subantarctic islands ap- 

 pears to be Gioplana moebiusi, Graff,* of which four specimens were collected by 

 Krone in the Auckland Islands. 



Geoplana subquadrangulata, Dendy, var., enderbyensis, n. var. 



A single specimen of this variety of a widely distributed and very variable New 

 Zealand species comes from Enderby Island. 



The specimen (in spirit) measures 14 mm. in length by 3-4 mm. in maximum 

 breadth (about the middle). The body is much flattened above, and only slightly 

 convex below, not distinctly quadrangular, but with rather sharply angulated 

 margins ; tapering fairly gradually in front and behind, but with the posterior tip 

 broken off. The peripharyngeal aperture is at about the middle of the ventral surface 

 and the genital aperture about half-way between it and the posterior extremity. 

 Eyes numerous, distinct, and arranged as usual. 



The dorsal surface is pale yellow, with three longitudinal stripes of brown — a 

 median and a pair.j" The median stripe is narrow, rather pale, slightly discontinuous, 

 and evidently composed of numerous small round specks of varying size and in- 

 tensity. Each paired stripe lies midway between the median stripe and the margin 

 of the body ; it is about twice as wide as the median stripe and much darker, and 

 also made up of numerous confluent round specks of brown pigment. The much 

 wider bands of ground-colour between the median and the paired stripes, and 

 again between the paired stripes and the margins of the body, are sparsely flecked 

 with small round specks of dark-brown pigment similar to those of which the paired 

 stripes are composed. 



The ventral surface is almost colourless, pale yellow, with a faintly marked 

 submarginal band of a very light uniform brown colour on either side, which pro- 

 bably represents the ill-defined lateral surface. On the inner side of each of these 

 submarginal bands is a faint trace of mottling on the ventral surface, absent in 

 the median region. 



* " Monographic du Turbellerien," ii : Tricladida terricola (Landplanarien), Lepzig, 1899, p. 386. 

 f In the living animal the paired stripes are reddish-brown. — W. B. B. 



