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Show 220 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON NEW EARTHWORMS. [Mar. 19, The testes and the funnels are in segment x. The spermiducal glands are coiled a good deal ; the first pair are distinctly larger than the second pair ; as this was found to be the case in two specimens not selected in any way, it may, I imagine, be safely regarded as normal for the genus. I have pointed out in the present paper that Acanthodrilus minutus shows the same peculiarity, also seen in the x\ustralian Acanthodrilus schm.ar.dce. The penial setae are expauded and recurved at the extremity, and are very similar to those of Acanthodrilus platyurus. Hab. St. 39, Island of Teja, Valdivia. (9) Acanthodrilus putablensis, n. sp. Of this species there were two examples, one of which was larger thau the other. I had at first passed by the worms on the assumption that they were examples of Acanthodrilus platyurus. The coloration, however (of the preserved worms), is a little different from that of any of the examples of A. platyurus in the collection ; and a nearer inspection showed other external differences which rendered their separation from A. platyurus even more obvious. The main external difference is in the arrangement of the setae; but in order to appreciate it properly, for it is, after all, slight, it is requisite to compare individuals of both species somewhat closely; it can then be made out that, while there is the same divergence of the setae of each pair from each other posteriorly, the distance which ultimately separates the setae of each pair is distinctly greater in the species now under consideration than in the allied A. platyurus. The worms were of stout build, and evidently rather contracted by the preservative reagent. The length is 82 m m . by 8 mm.; number of segments 150. The skin of one individual was invaded by numerous encysted Gregarines. These formed a series of white warts upon the skin, a situation where I have never before observed Gregarines; the interior of the body was also full of the parasites. The prostomium is quite completely developed, dividing the buccal segment. The clitellum occupies segments xiv.-xvi. The gizzard is stout and lies in segment vi.; after the gizzard are two thin septa; those separating segments viii./xiv. are strengthened. The last hearts are in segment xiii. It is the reproductive organs which show the greatest differences from A. platyurus. The testes, however, are, as in that species, one pair in x. ; the funnels in the same segment are highly vascular, as are also the oviducts, which occupy the usual position. The sperm-sacs are not like those of A. platyurus, in that one pair exist in the xiiith segment; there is another pair in ix. Although the sperm-sacs are in xiii., I presume that the ovaries are there also, for the oviducal funnel undoubtedly projects into that segment. |
