Dei^crvption of Victorian Earthivorms. 131 



characters, and have not even entered into details with 

 regard to these, other than such as will serve for identiti- 

 cation. 



A full description, especially as regards the nephridia, 

 genital oi-gans and setse, which will serve as the basis of a 

 revised classification, is not attempted to be given in this 

 preliminary account. This notice, therefore, contains merely 

 brief descriptions of eleven new species of Cryptodrilus, and 

 of ten new species of Megascolides. In addition to these, 

 two more species have been previously described, viz., M. 

 australis (McCoy), and M. tuherculatus (Fletcher). 



It will be seen that the latter genus is much more 

 strongly represented proportionately in Victoria than in 

 New South Wales. It is one of those series of forms which 

 are more or less characteristic of the south eastern corner of 

 Australia, spreading thence to a slight extent up the eastern 

 coastal district, but dying out to the north. Doubtless it 

 will be found to be strongly developed in Tasmania, since in 

 their faunas, Victoria, south of the Main Dividing Range, 

 and Tasmania are closely allied. 



The annual camping out expeditions of the Victorian 

 Field Naturalists' Club iiave enabled me to collect in very 

 inaccessible parts of the colony, especially in Croajingolong 

 and the mountain ranges around the source of the Yai-ra, 

 and I am mucli indebted for valuable assistance, both on 

 these and other occasions, to Messrs. C. French, C. Frost, 

 A. H. S. Lucas, T. Steel, J. Hulme, D. le Souef, W. Mann, 

 J. Shephard, Hugh Copeland, C. Brittlebank, H. R. Hogg, 

 the Rev. W. Fielder, and Dr. Dendy. 



As stated above, the present classification can only be 

 regarded as a temporary one with regard to the two genera 

 now dealt with, but the collection which Mr. Fletcher and 

 myself now possess will, we trust, enable us to satisfactorily 

 deal with this question in a short time. 



In the descriptions, I have used the terms employed by 

 Dr. Benham in his valuable paper, " An Attempt to Classify 

 Earth-worms "* and ma}^ here express the indebtedness of 

 workers in this group of forms to the recent researches of 

 Dr. Benham and Mr. Beddard.-f" 



* Q.J.M.S., Vol. XXXI, Part 2, p. 201. 



t Published principally during the past few years in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science. 



