52, THE ANATOMY OF AN AUSTRALIAN LAND PLANARIAN. 
need sub-dividing is eminently probable, but this cannot be done until we have 
further anatomical details at our command. In the meantime I have contented 
myself with pointing out, during the course of my descriptions, the points of 
difference and resemblance between the species under consideration and those which 
have previously been worked out. Probably the form and arrangement of the genital 
organs will prove of great value to the systematist, and it will be seen that Geoplana 
spencert differs markedly in this respect from all previously described land Planarians. 
The progress of my work has been greatly impeded by the scarcity of literature. 
When I first commenced it I had no idea how much was known about the anatomy of 
land Planarians, and I had therefore the mortification of subsequently finding that 
some of my most interesting results, which I believed to be new, had been forestalled. 
Nevertheless I determined to publish my results in full, as I believe it to be of the 
oreatest importance for Australian naturalists, and especially for students, to have a 
complete series of Australian types fully described. 
I wish to express my very hearty thanks to Mr. J. J. Fletcher, of Sydney, for 
sending me copies of his own papers, and also for lending me von Kennel’s very 
important paper on the subject (8) which I could not elsewhere obtain. I have also 
to thank the authorities of the Melbourne Public Library for kind permission to 
remove such books as I required from the Library. 
I have named the species, which is new to science, Geoplana spenceri, in honour 
of its original discoverer. 
Hapsits. 
Geoplana spenceri, like other land Planarians, is found-in damp situations, 
frequently under rotten logs. When the log under which it lies is first lifted, the 
animal is found more or less tightly coiled up, and as the dorsal surface is then alone 
visible it appears as a dark, slimy mass, almost black. Soon after being exposed to 
the light and air, however, the animal stretches itself out very considerably and 
begins to crawl about with an even, gliding motion. When crawling the animal 
exhibits great activity, and the narrow anterior extremity (vide Figs. 1 and 2), 
on which the eyes are situated, is uplifted as if to gain a more extended view. The 
course of the animal is marked by a slimy track, precisely resembling the track of a 
snail. One of my specimens escaped from the bottle in which it was confined, and I 
only succeeded in finding it again by following up the slimy track. 
The slimy coating on the surface of the animal is caused, as I shall show later 
on, by an abundant secretion of mucous, containing numerous rod-like bodies ejected 
from the skin. With a view to determining whether these rod-like bodies might be 
any protection to the animal against being eaten by any of the numerous devourers 
of worms, I tried the plan of licking the surface of the animal. At first no peculiar 
sensation was experienced, but on applying the tongue to the roof of the mouth the 
