president’s ADDRESS — SECTION D. 
113 
in clusters, embedded in a common transparent gelatinous mass, unpro- 
tected by any cocoon, and shaped something like a sausage. * * * § 
As already indicated, the Australasian cryptozoic fauna is 
exceptionally rich in the possession of two of the six known species of 
Land Nemertines. Geonemertes australiensis differs from all the 
others in the possession of a large number of eyes in place of the four 
or six commonly met with.f Since it was first discovered it has been 
found pretty abundantly in various parts of Victoria, and a probably 
identical species has been met with in Tasmania and New South Wales. 
It is a very remarkable fact that while the genus Geoplana , amongst 
Land Plauarians, exhibits such great variation in colour and pattern, 
and is consequently subdivided into so many species, the genus 
Geonemertes exhibits scarcely any variation in colour and pattern 
throughout those parts of Australia where it has been found, so that 
we can only recognise a single Australian species. This fact appears 
the more noteworthy when we consider the close similarity in habits 
and habitat of the two genera. 
The New Zealand Land Nemertine (Geonemertes novce-zealandice) 
differs conspicuously from the Australian form in the presence of only 
four eyes — two large and two small — and also in the very well defined 
pattern on the dorsal surface. Only four specimens are as yet known, 
so that it appears to be very rare. Although coming from two very 
widely separated localities in the South Island, these specimens all 
agree in the peculiar arrangement of dark chocolate brown stripes on 
the back, two broad inner ones and two very narrow outer ones, 
separated by intervals of pale yellow colour. 
TURBELLARIA. 
The first Australasian Land Planarian known to science was 
collected by Charles Darwin in Tasmania, on the celebrated voyage of 
the “ Beagle,” just half a century ago (1844). It was described in 
the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, £ under the name 
Planaria tasmaniana , but is now recognised as a species of Geoplana . 
Some interesting notes on this species are also given by Darwin in his 
Journal of Beseaches, although the statement that the animal feeds 
on rotten wood appears, in the light of later knowledge, to be 
incorrect. 
No further progress was made in our knowledge of this group 
of animals in Australasia until 1S77, when the late Professor Moseley 
described § several species obtained during the voyage of II.M.S. 
“ Challenger.” One of these was obtained in New Zealand and 
described under the name Geoplana traversii , || while three others were 
obtained in New South Wales and referred by the author to a new 
genus, Ccenoplana , with the specific names coerulea , sanguinea , and 
subviridis. The next Australasian naturalist who dealt with the group 
was Captain Hutton, who in 1880 described^! two more species of New 
* Dendy, “Notes on the Mode of Reproduction of Geonemertes australiensis ” — 
Proc. Royal Soc. Victoria for 1892. 
+ The anatomy of G. austratieims is described in detail in my paper “ On an 
Australian Land Nemertine” — Proc. Royal Soc, Victoria for 1891. 
X A. M. N. H., vol. xiv. (1844), p. 240. 
§ Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science N.S., vol. xvii., p. 273. 
| The anatomy of this species is dealt with iri some detail by Professor Moseley. 
IF Trans. N.Z. Institute, vol. xii. (1880), p. 277. 
H 
