Benham. — On Earthivorms. 143 



repeated. But except for two of our New Zealand species — 

 viz., M. minutus* and M. huttoui — the entire genus is charac- 

 terized by possessing a single pair of spermathecae. On this 

 account Michaelsen has recently, in a revision of the New 

 Zealand worms, suggested the resuscitation of Beddard's 

 genus Blwdodrilus for these species with more than one pair 

 •of spermathecae. Though this might be convenient, it seems 

 to me at present inadvisable to follow him, for in all other 

 anatomical features our two species are in thorough agree- 

 ment with the genus Microscolex. And, even if we referred 

 two of our species to Bhododrilus, we should still have to 

 face the fact that we have two species of Microscolex in these 

 Islands. 



The existence of this genus here in New Zealand, with 

 four distinct species, goes very far towards supporting the 

 land connection with South America, and points, perhaps, 

 rather to a connection with the northern part of the southern 

 continent than with the extreme south. However, Acantho- 

 drilus macquariensis must be regarded as lending a support to 

 an antarctic continent. 



Bibliography. 

 Beddard, F. E. :— 



(1.) " On the Oligochaetous Fauna of New Zealand." 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1889, p. 377. 



(2.) "On the Structure of Three New Species of Earth- 

 worms," &c. Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., vol. 29, 1889, 

 p. 101. 



(3.) " Contributions to the Anatomy of Earthworms." 

 Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., vol. 30, 1890, p. 467. 



(4.) " On some New Species of Earthworms," &c. Proc. 

 Zool. Soc, 1892, p. 666. 



(5.) Proc. Boy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh, 1893, p. 33. 



(6.) "Monograph of the Order Oligochaeta." Oxford, 

 1895, p. 467. 



(7.) Proc. Zool. Soc, 1896, p. 208. 



Jizuka : " On a New Species of Littoral Oligochaeta." Annot. 

 Zool. Japon., vol. 2, pt. 1, 1898, p. 21. 



Michaelsen : " Oligochaeten von den Inseln d. Pacific." Zool. 

 Jahrbuch, Abth. f. System, vol. 12, 1899, p. 211. 



Bosa, D. : " On some New Earthworms in the British 

 Museum." Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 7), vol. 2, 

 1898, p. 281. 





•(1), p. 381. A) 



: i- ■ < Y -*- 



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