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Show 1 6 2 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON A [Dec. 12, 9. On a new Enchytraeid Worm (Henlea lefroyi, sp. n.) from India destructive to the Eggs of a Locust ( Acridium sp.). By F r a n k E. B e d d a r d , M.A ., F.R .S ., Prosector to the Society. [Received October 5, 1905.] Dr. S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., of King's College, Cambridge, was so good as to forward to me recently a tube of small white worms for identification and study. These had been sent to him from India by Mr. H. Maxwell Lefroy, Entomologist to the Government of India, who discovered that they attacked and destroyed the eggs of a locust belonging to the genus Acridium when the ground in which those eggs were deposited is moist. Dr. Harmer directed my attention to the fact that they were Oligochaetous worms ; they prove to be a species of the family Enehytrseidse, and were in a good state of preservation for microscopical examination. The family, as is well known, occurs in damp earth as well as in water; it is not so purely aquatic as are some of the families of the " Microdrili." The species appears to be new, and presents a certain number of characters which in combination render its inclusion in any already defined genus difficult. I shall, however, describe its characters before proceding to discuss its systematic position. The species is small, 3-4 mm. in length and, as, already mentioned, white. The setce are curved and of the usual Enchytra?id form; they are, however, rather few in number in each bundle, though present upon all the segments of the body, with the exception of the first and apparently the twelfth (in the mature worm with a clitellum). The lateral bundles possess two seta? apiece, and the ventral bundles three ; very occasionally I observed three set* in a dorsal bundle. This arrangement extends from end to end of the body. The number of segments in a large specimen is 27. I could detect no dorsal pores. The clitellum and other external characters call for no remark. The alimentary canal shows certain characters which assist in the placing of the species. Peptonephridia are present and of very small length, though I am unable to give any details concerning them. The oesophagus appears to pass without any break into the intestine ; I can find no demarcation between these two sections of the gut. Behind the clitellum the gut is of course much wider than it is in front of that region of the body. Furthermore, I can discover no caeca or pouches of any description appended to the gut. It is a simple tube without outgrowths. The septal glands of this species extend back as far as the sixth segment, in which the last pair occur ; in front of this pair and in segments iv. and v. are equally prominent pairs of septal glands. |