22 
The hish Naturalist. 
February 
NOTES ON IRISH OLIGOCHAETS. 
BY REV. HILDERIC FRIEND. 
Having recently had occasion to review some of the 
questions relating to our British Annelids, I have come 
across a number of facts which are not without interest in 
relation to Ireland. The following notes are intended to 
assist in a better understanding of this important group of 
animals. Our first problem is : — 
What is Lumbricus lineatus O.F.M. ? 
In W. Thompson's " Natural History of Ireland," vol. 
iv., p. 428 (1856), we find the following : — 
Genus Lumbricus. 
L. lineatus, Miiller. Coast of Down, W. T. Was so named by Dr. Johns- 
ton, to whom a large collection of Irish Annelides was submitted for the 
purpose of being named and described ; the localities noted were attached 
to the specimens. 
That, so far as I am aware, is the first and only 
reference to the occurrence of this Pachydrilid in Ireland. 
Can it be confirmed ? In 1865 the Trustees of the British 
Museum published a Catalogue of Worms (i ), by Dr. George 
Johnston, of Edinburgh, in which we find, under the Genus 
Saenuris Hoffmeister, this record : — 
" 5. lineata, dorsal vessel simple, tortuous ; segments about 40 ; 
anal segment sinuate. Length 6mm. 
Der rothe Wurm, Miiller, Wurm-Arten, no; der Faden-Wurm, 118, 
tab. 3, f. 4, 5. 
Lumbricus lineatus, Miiller, Verm, i., ii. 29, Zool. Dan. Prod., No. 2606. 
Fabricius, Faun. Groenl. 278. 
Nais littoralis, var. Miiller. Zool. Dan., tab. 80. f. 1-4. 
Saenuris lineata, Grube, Fam. Annel. 103, [146]. 
Hah. — In wet gravel or sand on the shore where the water is brackish. 
Desc. — Worm slender, slightly narrower at both ends, of a reddish 
colour to the naked eye, smooth, the sides neatly crenulated. Segments 
about equal in length to their diameter. Anal segment obtuse, deeply 
sinuate, mutable in form, for the little prominences which bound the 
sinus can be expanded or shut at pleasure.^ Spinets in four series, equi- 
distant, from two to four in each fascicle, short, curved like an italic /, 
and sharp at the apex. 
(L.) Feme Isles, Northumberland, Dr. Johnston." 
1 This is a curious point, indicating in my judgment that specimens 
were examined whose anal extremity was infested with parasites. These 
are of frequent occurrence. Otherwise a Naid may have been mixed 
with the material. 
