ioo SCIENCE PROGRESS 



or two enthusiasts, who have quietly carried on the work 

 during the intervening quarter of a century, with very amazing 

 results. The time has now come when it is possible once more 

 to survey the subject, and create a new point of departure. 



The Number of Species. — As our inquiry is limited to the 

 British Lumbricidae, the question naturally arises, How many 

 species of Earthworm are there in the British Isles ? It will 

 be instructive, in answer to that query, to look a little into 

 the history of the subject. In 1865 Dr. G. Johnston compiled 

 A Catalogue of British Worms, based on the collection then 

 found in the British Museum. The number of Lumbricidae 

 there recorded is eleven, about half of which are satisfactory, 

 while the remainder are doubtful. Under one or two headings 

 we find more than one species confused, while in other cases 

 the same species appears under more than one name. 



Darwin does not allude to Johnston's catalogue. He remarks 

 that "The British species of Lumbricus have never been carefully 

 monographed ; but we may judge of their probable number 

 from those inhabiting neighbouring countries. In Scandinavia 

 there are eight species, according to Eisen ; but two of these 

 rarely burrow in the ground, and one inhabits very wet places 

 or even lives under the water. Hoffmeister says that the species 

 in Germany are not well known, but gives the same number 

 as Eisen, together with some strongly marked varieties." 



When Dr. Rosa published his Revisione dei Lumbricidi in 1893 

 he enumerated six species of Lumbricus, forty-nine of Allolobo- 

 phora, and six of Allurus. Thus the number of European Lum- 

 bricidae had been raised to upwards of sixty species. Beddard 

 two years later issued his Monograph of the Order Oligochceta 

 (1895), and allowed three species of Allurus with Tetragonurus, 

 fifty-two of Allolobophora, and seven of Lumbricus known to 

 science. The following year (1896) de Ribaucourt's Etude sur 

 la Faune Lombricide de la Suisse appeared, and no fewer than 

 forty-four species of Allolobophora were recorded for Switzer- 

 land alone, in addition' to seven species of Lumbricus and five 

 of Allurus. Passing over the work of Vaillant, Oerley, and 

 others, we arrive at the year 1900, which marked the appearance 

 of Michaelsen's volume on Oligochceta (Das Tierreich, x.), in which 

 the number of species has grown beyond all bounds. 



My own researches commenced in 1890, and it was then 

 assumed that our native Earthworms numbered half a score, 



