110
NOTES ON ESSEX WORMS (OLIGOCHAETA).
DESCRIPTION OF A SPECIES NEW TO BRITAIN (HENLEA
VENTRICULOSA, D'UDEKEM), AND OF A GENUS AND
SPECIES NEW TO SCIENCE (DICHAETA CURVISETOSA,
FRIEND.), BOTH FROM ESSEX.
By REV. HILDERIC FRIEND, M A., F.L.S.
I.—Henlea ventriculosa, D'Udekem.
IN May, 1892, I received from Mr. William Allen, a member of
the Essex Field Club, a consignment of worms from the Essex
side of London, the exact locality not being carefully defined. In
addition to the earthworms were some specimens which did not then
come in for treatment in connection with my series of papers1 on the
terricolous species, and these I have hitherto failed to place on
record. The publication of Mr. Beddard's "Monograph of the
Oligochaeta" 2 having made it necessary for me to look over some of
my old notes, I find it recorded that the species from Essex was
Enchytraeus ventriculosus, D'Udekem. The genus has since been
renamed Henlea by Michaelsen, and five well-known species
placed thereunder. Little is known about the British species
of Henlea, but I have recorded H. leptodera for Yorkshire,
and, as far as I am aware, this is the first British record
of H. ventriculosa. I made drawings of the worm when
received which are sufficient to render the identification certain,
though in one or two particulars my notes and drawings differ from
the descriptions given by others. This may be due to the fact that
the British forms have undergone slight modification. Mr. Beddard's
definition is as follows :
" Length, 15-20 mm.; number of segments, 60 ; setae straight or
slightly bent to right or left, 4-9 : four oesophageal glands (and one
pair of Spermathecae); hab., Germany, Denmark, Bohemia, Italy,
Belgium, New Zealand, Asia ; terrestrial."
I have drawings of the setae which are slightly curved, and my
notes state that there are 3-5 in each bundle, thus differing from
the type. Mr. Beddard says the four glands lie in the eighth
See Mr. Friend's papers on "British Annelids, with especial reference to the Earthworms of
Essex," in volumes v. and vi. of The Essex Naturalist.—Ed.
2 "A Monograph of the Order Oligochaeta." By F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. 4to, pp. xii. 769.
with five plates. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1895. Price £2 2s. —Ed.