262 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NEW BRITISH ANNELIDS. 



By Rev. Hilderic Friend. 



The following records serve to show that as yet we are far 

 from having gained a complete knowledge of the Annelid fauna 

 of our own country. Nearly every time I go out to collect, some 

 species new to Britain or to science is discovered ; and, as each 

 species has its place in the economy of nature, it is clear that 

 we have much yet to learn respecting the part which the lesser 

 worms play as friends or foes of the farmer and the gardener. 

 My present records will be limited to one family, the Enchytrseids. 

 For the rest, suffice it to place on record the fact that Limno- 

 drilus hoffmeisteri, Claperede, was found by me at Easter near the 

 lake in Sutton Park, Birmingham — this being, so far as I know, 

 the first record for this country. 



1. Fridericia magna, n. s. 



During Easter week, while on a visit to the Lake District, I 

 went one day to the meeting of the waters where the Cocker 

 joins the Derwent under the shadow of the Castle, and in view 

 of Wordsworth House at Cockermouth. Among my other 

 gleanings I here took two specimens of a worm which I at once 

 found to be new to me, and, as it proved, new to science also. Its 

 large size at first threw me off the track, and it was some time 

 before I could bring myself to believe that it was a veritable 

 Enchytrseid, and a Fridericia, despite its well-marked charac- 

 teristics. It was the largest species of the genus I have ever 

 found, as it somewhat exceeded in size the seaside worm known 

 as Enchytrceus humicultor, which I once found on the banks of 

 the Solway. 



Fridericia magna is 35-40 mm. in length, and consists of about 

 ninety segments. There are two setce in each bundle behind the 

 girdle, and three usually in each bundle on all the preclitellian 



