1920.] J. Stephenson: Oliçjochaeta from India and E. Persia. 197 



The specimen from Peshawar occurred along with Ohaetogaster bengalensis ; its 

 presence in this association was probably accidental. 



Dr. Annandale's note on the worms from Nasratabad runs : — ■" Oligochaetes in 

 relatively long mucilaginous tubes intertwined with stems of weed. A colony of the 

 Polyzoon Lophopodella attached to each tube." Of the two glass tubes in which the 

 Nasratabad specimens were sent to me, one contained worms only, the other some 

 fragments of weed, and several colonies of Lophopodella, each attached to a soft brown- 

 ish tube. I found the worms on the fragments of weed, but there were none still 

 remaining in the tubes to which the Polyzoon colonies adhered. I have found this 

 worm in numbers in tubes in Lahore (5), but the tubes in this case were appa- 

 rently those of insect larvae, not manufactured by the worms themselves. 



The specimens from the Western Ghats are possibly a separate variety. The 

 dorsal needles are in the var. punjabensis finely forked ; though barely or not at all 

 distinguishable with the ordinary high power, the forking is quite evident on exam- 

 ination with the oil immersion, when the needles lie in a favourable position. In 

 these specimens I thought I detected a trace of bifurcation in a few cases on close 

 observation, but in many the forking seemed quite definitely to be absent. 



Nais paraguayensis, Mchlsn 

 Plate IX, fig. i. 



Gwalior, Central India ; in a pond, attached to Hydrilla and other débris ; 18-vi-1917. B. 

 Prashad. Three specimens. 



This species has previously been recorded from Calcutta and from Sirsiah in 

 Bihar by Michaelsen, and from Lahore by me. The species seems to be rather vari- 

 able. The present specimens were from 4-5 to y$ mm. in length, and consisted of 

 from 29 to 56 segments, without any sign of a budding zone. The ventral setae 

 are three or four per bundle ; in the body generally the prongs are equal in length, 

 but the outer is only two-thirds or even half the thickness of the inner. In the first 

 four seta-bearing segments both prongs seem to be longer and thinner than in more 

 posterior segments, but the relative thicknesses are maintained ; the outer prong is 

 slightly longer than the inner ; the shaft is also slightly thinner than in succeeding 

 segments. 



The dorsal bundles consist usually of one hair and one needle ; two needles may 



occur, and also two hairs, in which case one is much shorter than the other. There 



are slight variations from the typical form among the needles ; in one case the smaller 



outer prong was itself bifid ; in another the longer prong was slightly bent outwards 



towards the smaller ; in one specimen the outer prong was regularly very short (fig. 1, 



a and b). 



var. aequalis, var. nov. 



Plate IX, fig. 2. 



Saugor. Central Provinces ; in a large lake, attached to leaves. 20-vi-1917. B. Prashad. A 

 single specimen, in spirit, and one preserved and flattened in glycerine on a slide at the time of 

 capture. 



