OCR Text |
Show 316 DR. W. BAIRD ON NEW ANNELIDES. [May 13, than in maculata, and tubercular. Oral sucker moderate in size; ventral circular, radiately plaited internally and granulous externally. Length of body about 3 inches, greatest breadth about 4 lines. Hab. Hong-Kong, China (Sir A. Smith, M.D.). A species has been described by Blainville from a drawing made by a native artist in the Chinese ' Encyclopaedia,' and named by him Hirudo sinica. This Leech is said to be employed medicinally in China. It is small and entirely black, which would show it to be a different species from that found in Hong-Kong. 6. HIRUDO SEMICARINATA, Baird. Body rounded, of a uniform dark olive-colour above and beneath, slightly narrower at anterior extremity. Rings narrow, with a few tubercles on the surface. Oral sucker round, with scarcely any lip, but plaited round its margin ; ventral sucker moderate, indistinctly plaited on internal surface. Anus small. The anterior half of the body is marked on the dorsal surface with a sort of raised keel. Length of body 16 lines, breadth of body about 3 lines (largest specimen). Hab. Vancouver Island (J. K. Lord, Esq.) ; Great Bear Lake, N. America (Sir J. Richardson, M.D.). 7• HIRUDO LAEVIS, Baird. Body depressed, flat ventrally, slightly convex dorsally, attenuated anteriorly. Of a uniform dull yellowish colour above and beneath. No bands or marks to be seen, unless an indistinct continuous band on each side dorsally. Rings quite smooth ; the lower margin of each raised somewhat like a keel; and on the edges at the sides the rings are as it were divided into two, but only on the edges. Oral sucker small; ventral rather small, radiately plaited. Length 4\ inches, greatest breadth about 9 lines. IIab. ? Old collection*. Genus HETEROBDELLA, Baird. Body composed of 160 rings. Male organ situated between the twenty-ninth and thirtieth ring; female between the forty-eighth and forty-ninth. Eyes five pairs-three situated on first ring, one on second, and one on fifth. Anus rather small, round, and distinct, situated between the fourth and fifth last ring, in the centre, a little above the ventral sucker, which is obliquely terminal, and so placed as to have a ventral aspect. * A cargo of Leeches was lately imported into London from Australia; but, the demand for Leeches being now much restricted owing to the disuse of bloodletting by medical men in this country, it appears that they were almost all thrown into the Thames. Three or four specimens, however, were saved from the mass, and kindly sent alive to the British Museum by Mr. Morson of Southampton Eow. This Leech is one which is used in Australia for medicinal purposes ; and a dissection of the mouth shows the teeth to be strong and well developed. The species is the Hirudo quinquestriata of Schmarda, and described by him in his ' Neue Wirbelthiere,' vol. ii. |