524 NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN EARTHWORMS, 



flats in some inland districts are not destitute of worms as I shall 

 mention later, but with respect to the extensive plains of the 

 interior where the rainfall is small, the case may be different, and 

 I should be glad to receive information on the subject. 



Up to the present time only three species of earthworms have 

 been described from Australia, with a fourth (Lumbricus orthostichon, 

 Schmarda) from Tasmania. This last was originally described as from 

 New Zealand, but this locality, on the authority of Captain Hutton, 

 is incorrect. Two of the described species (Lumbricus Novce- 

 Hollandice, Kinberg, and Digaster lumbricoides, Perrier) are from 

 New South Wales, the third (Megascolides australis, McCoy) being 

 from Gippsland, Victoria. At present I have met with only one 

 of these species. 



From gardens, grass paddocks, uncultivated lands, and old 

 quarries in Sydney or its suburbs I have obtained specimens of 

 four or five species of worms. Of these, one is without doubt 

 Kinberg's species ; a second seems to be a European introduced 

 species [Lumbricus olidus, Hoffmeister) ; a third is a small 

 perichsete worm which appears to be closely allied to, if not of the 

 same species as, much larger worms found at Burrawang, and of 

 which a variety occurs at Mount Wilson ; a fourth, of which I have 

 found only three immature specimens all devoid of a clitellum, 

 has two gizzards, and appears to belong to Perrier's genus 

 Digaster, but is different from the species described by him 

 from Port Macquarie ; while a possible fifth species, known to me 

 so far only from the Elizabeth Bay garden, is at present 

 un-identified. I did not find the first of these, which seems to 

 inhabit comparatively poor soil, either at Burrawang or Mt, 

 Wilson, but it is evidently a wide-spread species in this colony as, 

 through the kindness of two of our members, Messrs. J. R. 

 Garland and A. G. Hamilton, I have received specimens of it 

 from Wagga Wagga, and from Guntawang near Mudgee, and I 

 have found it myself on the banks of the Turon River, about five 

 miles from Capertee; thus showing that the alluvial flats of some 

 inland districts are not destitute of worms. 



