293 Transactions. — Zoology. Art. XX. — Earthworms from the Kermadecs. By W. B. Benham, D.Sc, MA., F.Z.8., &c, Professor of Biology in the University of Otago. [Read before the Otago Institute, 8th November, 1904.] Plates XIII. and XIV. Owing to the thoughtfulness of Mr. R. Shakespear, of Little Barrier Island, I am indebted to Captain Bollons, of the Govern-ment steamer " Hinemoa," for the first samples of the Oligochseta that have been collected in the Kermadecs. Captain Bollons was good enough to take a considerable amount of trouble to obtain these worms. The soil forms, he tells me, a very thin covering of decayed vegetation upon pumice rock, and he was unsuccessful in his earlier efforts to find any earthworms, but finally, at Coral Bay, his persistency was rewarded. My best thanks are due to these gentlemen for their kindness. I received the specimens alive, packed with soil and moss in a tin box : they consisted of three small earthworms and six Enchy-traeids. Of the earthworms, two were immature individuals of some species of the genus Allolobophora belonging to the family Lumbricidce — the members of which are readily transported, and are, as a matter of fact, widely distributed by the agency of man. Though I am unable to identify the species to which these individuals belong, there can be little doubt but that they have been " introduced " by some means, though Captain Bollons states that this part of the island has never been inhabited ; nevertheless, some parts have been occupied, and there can be no difficulty in explaining the presence of these worms here. The third worm is mature, and belongs to the genus Rhododrilus * which, according to Michaelsen's most recent writings, has its headquarters in New Zealand, and is represented on both the main islands as well as on the outlying islands. The present species, however, differs from any hitherto described, and I propose to name it Rhododrilus kermadecensis, n. sp. Colour. — Pinkish, with transparent body-wall. Dimensions. — Length, 65 mm. ; diameter, 1*75 mm. ; with 108 segments. Ch&ta;. — The eight bristles are wide apart, and approximately their arrangement in the midbody is ah = hbc ; be =cd = 2ab ; aa = &c ; dd — led. But at about the 20th segment the lines * Ft appears from a recent work by Miehaelaen that he would fuse t.lic specie* tit' Rhododrilus with those of Microseolez, the older genus. I have given reasons in a paper forwarded to the Zoological Society for distinguishing the two genera.
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