British Unchytrcvids. By Rev. H. Friend. 11 



By combining two or more of these groups the classification 

 could be still further extended and simplified, and a bird's-eye 

 view of the whole be obtained. When we come to the systematic 

 study of the British species, it will be possible for us to show how 

 the classification works out in practice. 



When Michaelsen established the genus he found ten species 

 already in existence, under the older names of Enchytrxus, Nco- 

 enchytnvus, or Archienchytnmis. They are now known as Fridericia 

 hulhosa Eosa, F. striata Levinsen, F. hisdosa Lev., F. leydigi Vej- 

 dovsky, F. perrierl Yejd., F. lohifcra Vejd., F. callosa Eisen, F. 

 ratzdi Eisen, F. galha Hoffmeister, and F. hegemon Vejd. In 1895, 

 when Beddard published his invaluable Monograph of the Order 

 Oligoclipeta, he made the number of species then known into 

 twelve, by the addition of F. anfarctica Bed., and F. dura Eisen, 

 neither of which is reckoned as a good species by Michaelsen in 

 Das Tierreich, x. p. 100, but both of which appear under F. ratzeli. 

 The point concerns us here only so far as it relates to the number 

 of species known to science at a given time. Tlie curious thing is 

 that in 1895, when Beddard named twelve species of Fridericia as 

 known to science, most of which were found in Italy, Germany, 

 Bohemia, Denmark, Belgium and Norway, not one was known as 

 British, nor is England ever mentioned. In 1895 Moore published 

 descriptions of certain American species, as F. alba, F. agricola, 

 and F. longa, and Smith described F. agilis from the same country. 

 Nusbaum the same year added F. oligosetosa, in 1896 F. uhnicola 

 Friend was recorded for Ireland, and in 1899 F. magna Friend 

 was found for the first time. From this year onward Bretscher, 

 Cognetti, Southern, Issel, Friend, and others have been indefatigable 

 in their efforts to make our knowledge of the genus more complete. 

 The results are seen in the fact that while Beddard enumerated 

 twelve species in 1895, and Michaelsen twenty-one in 1900 (Das 

 Tieri'eich, x. pp. 94-102), Southern stated in 1909 that the number 

 then stood at about sixty-five, and this has been steadily rising ever 

 since. The most notable and numerous additions have been made 

 by Bretscher, who during the past few years has worked the Annelid 

 fauna of Switzerland with great care and amazing results. Quite 

 a number of the Enchytrseids which he has discovered and described 

 have already been found by Southern in Ireland or by myself in 

 England, and there is every indication that further research will 

 reveal a much closer connexion between the fauna of Great Britain 

 and that of the Continent. 



Thanks to the aid which has been afforded me by Govern- 

 ment grant, I have been able, during the past year, to visit many 

 parts of England for purposes of research, from Carlisle in the 

 north through Lancashire, to Derbyshire and Leicester in the mid- 

 lands, Norfolk in the east, and London, Surrey and Sussex in the 

 south. The results are of a most encouraging nature, and show 



