Zoology.-] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Annelida. 



arched margin, closed below by a soft tubular sort of under lip, looking like a portion 

 of the oesophagus everted; the head ring radiatingly granulated outside the opening. 

 The first 30 rings are broader than the others, but each is divided into three by two 

 impressed lines parallel to the margins, making it difficult to count them. 



Dr. Templeton, of the Eoyal Artillery, was the first to draw 

 attention to the existence of enormous earth-worms, 20 to 40 inches 

 in length, and 1 or 1J inches in thickness, in the alpine region of 

 Ceylon during the rainy season, in a letter sent to the Zoological 

 Society of London, and published in their proceedings of 1845,* 

 for which he proposed the name Megascolex cceruleus, from their 

 size and color. They had 270 rings, and the genitalia occupied the 

 16th, 17th, and 18th rings, after which the diameter was less, and 

 from the 15th ring a row of breathing pores extended along the 

 middle of the back ; and 100 setae on each ring except on mid-line 

 of back. 



Schmarda next, in the second part of his admirable work " Neue 

 Wirbellose Thiere," founded the genus Perichceta on the character 

 " Setae totam segmentorum circumferentiam in forma annuli cin- 

 gentes," and remarks — " Das Geschlecht Megascolex wurde von 

 Temj>leton aufgestellt. Es charachterisirt sich dadurch, dass die 

 Borsten auf dem Riicken in Querreihen in der Mitte der Leibesringe 

 stehen." Now Templeton, on the contrary, states distinctly that 

 in his Megascolex there are no setae on the mid-line of the back at 

 all, but they form a row round the other parts of each ring. Dr. 

 Baird next described f somewhat similar creatures of smaller size, 

 from the earth imported with orchids into some hothouses in 

 Wales (probably from India or South Africa), which he named 

 Megascolex (Perichceta) cliff rin gens from the great brittleness of the 

 individuals, and supposing Megascolex and Perichceta to be synony- 

 mous genera. These living specimens were described to him by 

 the gardeners to have different habits from earth-worms, twisting 

 violently about like eels when held (the popular name eel-worm 

 was given to them by Mr. Fish), and travelling by night with great 

 swiftness over the surface of the ground, into which they vanish 



* Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. xv., p. 59. 

 f Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1869, p. 40. 



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