154 
The British Leeches 
72 rings, of which the last is inconspicuous and incomplete. Somites 
I, XXIV and XXVII biannulate ; II, XXV and XXVI uniannulate, 
the 21 somites III—XXIII complete with three rings. 
The first pair of eyes lies on ring 3 ; the second and largest pair is 
situated on ring 4, that is, upon the first ring of somite IV. 
The proboscis is short, extending posteriorly to the last ring of 
somite VIII. The mouth opens in the posterior part of somite III. 
The male genital orifice lies between rings 29 and 30, that is, 
between the second and third rings of somite XI; the female opening is 
two rings behind the male, between rings 31 and 32. Testes 10 pairs. 
The anus lies behind the first ring of somite XXVII. 
Eggs attached to the ventral surface of the parent. 
Length, at rest, 16—18 mm., width, at rest, 2 - 5—8 mm. Length, 
in extreme extension, 27—30 mm. 
Distribution, Food, etc. This beautiful species occurs throughout 
the greater part of Europe. It has not been recorded from Ireland. It 
is rare in Scotland, according to Dalyell (1853, pp. 45—49, pi. v, figs. 
1—19), who describes the yellow form already referred to, under the 
name Hirudo flava. It is equally rare in England, where it was first 
recorded in 1859 by Houghton (1860, p. 248, pi. xvi, C, figs. 1—2, who 
took one example in Bala Lake and several others in a small stream 
near Solihull in Warwickshire, and again later (1865, p. 89) “on one or 
two occasions...found it in the Shropshire Union Canal.” 
Since 1865 it does not appear to have been noticed in Great 
Britain, probably because it has not been sought for. Recently (1898—9) 
I have taken a number of examples from a stagnant weedy pond, stocked 
with fish, at Histon, near Cambridge. These were found among aquatic 
plants together with other Glossosiphonidae. 
This species is a fish parasite (Houghton, 1865, p. 89; Whitman, 
1878, p. 10; Blanchard, 1884, p. 33). Apathy (1888 b) states that it 
attacks the smaller species of carp. 
Genus: Glossosiphonia, Johnson, 1816. 
Synonymy: 
Glossipho?iia, Johnson, 1816. Glossopora, Johnson, 1817. Clepsine, Savigny, 1822. 
Erpobdella, de Blainville, in Lamarck, 1818. Glossobdella, de Blainville, 1827. 
Glepsina , de Filippi, 1837. Glossosiphonia, R. Blanchard, 1894. 
Glossosiphonidae of small or medium size, with three pairs of eyes. 
Complete somite formed of three rings. Crop with six pairs of sub-lobate 
lateral caeca, the last and longest pair reflected posteriorly. 
