300 NATURAL SCIENCE. May. 



gatherings from Africa ; but it also occurs, though to a less extent, 

 through the East, and now we have a quantity of American forms. 

 Dr. Michaelsen thinks that these species, which live out of Africa, have 

 been introduced by commerce, and that they are not really indigenous 

 elsewhere than in Africa ; but there remains the fact that quite 

 different species are inhabitants of America and the East. One of 

 Dr. Eisen's new genera is also a member of the same family ; he has 

 named it Aleodribis ; it is mainly to be distinguished from other genera 

 by the more posteriorly situated male generative pores. In this it 

 agrees with the North American Diplocardia, of which further 

 researches may show that it is only a distinct species. Phcenicodrilus 

 is allied to a small worm, largely aquatic in habit, described by 

 Beddard from tropical Africa, and named Nannodvilus on account of 

 its pigmy proportions. Besides Benhamia, Ocnerodrilus is another 

 genus which is common to the warmer parts of America and to 

 tropical Africa. Resemblances between Africa and America have 

 been pointed out in other groups of animals, and there is certainly 

 some reason for comparing them in the matter of their earthworms ; 

 but it must be borne in mind that the common forms are small and of 

 an accommodating way of life, so that accidental transference must 

 not be lost sight of. 



The Preliminary Notice. 



Our Note on this subject (this vol., p. 73) has brought us a 



certain amount of correspondence. The principle of our criticism 



seems generally approved, though many workers are disposed to 



make reservations in one or another direction, and to 



" Compound for sins they are inclined to 

 By damning those they have no mind to," 



Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell is so bold as to send us " a little paper of 

 his own " to serve as a test-case. Its very title is aggressive — 

 " Preliminary Diagnoses of New Coccidae." It is published in the 

 Supplement to Psyche, February, 1896. " The writer," it begins, 

 *' having lately prepared descriptions of various new Coccidae, which 

 will appear in sundry bulletins, reports, proceedings of local societies, 

 and so forth, it is deemed expedient to bring together some account 

 of them here. This is done for the convenience of students, who 

 sometimes complain of the difficulty of keeping track of scattered 

 descriptions ; and also to secure earlier publication, as some of the 

 fuller accounts may be (indeed, have already been) much delayed." 

 The diagnoses are short, but Mr. Cockerell assures us that they are 

 " full enough for recognition," and that they are " actual abstracts of 

 full diagnoses previously arranged for publication." The species 

 come from Mexico, Japan, San Francisco, Trinidad, and elsewhere. 

 Full particulars of most will be given in a forthcoming Bulletin of the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture. "The West Indian forms will 

 probably receive full publication in Trinidad." 



