344 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



then it has been found at Kew, Hamburg, Dublin, and elsewhere, 

 but Benham seems to have had no suspicion of its existence at 

 Oxford, though he worked there for some years. Along with 

 this interesting Annelid were at least three species of the allied 

 genus Limnodrilus. One of these (L. hoffmeisteri) is pretty 

 common in England. Two other species, however, are rare or 

 unknown. This is not the place to enter into details, but it may 

 be stated that one species is marked by its golden tail, the other 

 by the mass of circular corpuscles which abound in the ccelom. 

 The latter may be new to science. 



Finally, attention must be paid to those important though 

 little-known creatures, the White Worms, or Enchytrseids. If 

 Annelids are ever guilty of injuring living plants, it is upon this 

 group that the chief blame must fall. The Enchytrseids are a 

 vast family, and in our English gardens there are an incredible 

 number of species. They belong to many genera, such as 

 Enchytrceus, Henlea, Buchholzia, and Fridericia. Of the Henleas 

 alone we have upwards of thirty British species, already de- 

 scribed by myself, while the known Fridericias exceed that 

 number, and still are by no means completely known. Belong- 

 ing to the genus Enchytrceus I found three species in the leaf- 

 mould. Of these one at least (E. parvulus = E. argenteus) is 

 with reason suspected of being very dangerous to flowering 

 plants. The largest (E. albidus) is very common in well-rotted 

 manure, and is doubtless beneficent, while the other (E. mini- 

 mus) is, as its name implies, very minute, often not exceeding 

 2 to 3 mm. 



Two species of Henlea occurred in April in the Gardens, but 

 there is little doubt that the number would be greatly increased 

 by a little systematic study. Finally, about half a dozen species 

 of Fridericia were taken, and notes made of one or two other 

 doubtful forms, which can only be determined when fresh 

 material has been obtained. What is the net result ? We 

 have already on record for the Oxford Botanic Gardens some 

 sixteen species of indigenous Lumbricidce, a Perichceta, a foreign 

 Helodrilus or its ally, four species of Tubificidce, including 

 Branchiura, and a dozen Enchytrseids, making upwards of thirty 

 different species of Oligochsets, nearly every one of which is of 

 value to the gardener. This is the first attempt at such a study 



