82 EARTHWORMS AND THEIR ALLIES [ch. 



We shall therefore consider this huge portion of the 



globe as one region comparable to the other divisions 



that have been hitherto considered. With reference 



to the Lumbricidae and Geoscolecidae the same 



remarks may be made as in the case of India. 



The indigenous forms of the latter family are 



to be looked upon as outside of the present survey 



since they are largely or entirely aquatic forms. 



Pontoscolex corethrurus, and Eudrilus eugeniae, need 



not detain us for reasons already amply stated. We 



now come to the great family Megascolecidae. Of 



this family the genus Pheretima stands at the head ; 



and of the 200 or so species that have been or can 



be assigned to this genus all, with merely two or three 



exceptions, are natives of the Eastern Archipelago 



and adjoining mainlands of Asia. Of other Mega- 



scolecinae the region has yielded the following genera. 



In Java one species of Woodwardia ( W.javanica) has 



lately been described. It is regarded by Michaelsen 



however as doubtfully indigenous. And the same 



remark may be made of Perionyx. Plionogaster, 



however, with four or five species, is limited, as far 



as our present knowledge goes, to the Philippines and 



to neighbouring islands. The Acanthodrilinae and 



Octochaetinae are totally absent from this part of the 



world, there being no record even of peregrine species 



of these sub-families. The sub-family Trigastrinae is 



not however unrepresented ; for of Dichogaster several 



