286 



and Burma. They may be regarded as representing the EpipJial- 

 logona of the molluscan classification. 



Mr. Beddard regards the Geoscolecidœ- as nearer the Lum- 

 bricidcF- than are the Megascolecidœ, perhaps owing to the 

 generahsed Hormogaster, which has many Geoscolecid characters 

 still lingering in the Mediterranean region. In South Africa 

 and Madagascar the Microchœtinœ are represented chiefly by 

 Microchœtus on the continental land, while Kynotus is entirely 

 restricted to Madagascar. 



Similarly we find the most primitive subfamily group, 

 the Acanthodrilince, which a consideration of its distribution 

 indicates should be raised to family rank, may be paralleled 

 with the molluscan group Protogona, and like that group are 

 chiefly found in and characteristic of the weaker and most 

 remote parts of the earth. South America, South Africa, 

 Australia, Tasmania, and the Antarctic islands are all inhabited 

 by these creatures, and chiefly by one of its most archaic genera, 

 Notiodrilus, and are pressed southwards by the competition 

 of the Geoscolecidœ or by the still more highly organised 

 MegascolecidcB. 



In Eastern North America the resemblance to the Archaic 

 Protogona is further emphasised, for we find that the genus 

 Microscolex, a member of the subfamily Acanthodrilince, as well 

 as Diplocardiinœ and Ocnerodrilincs, are characteristic of the 

 region and ver}^ closely allied to Notiodrilus, the most primitive 

 earthworm known, and standing nearest the assumed generalised 

 form from which the earthworms arose. 



In Ornithology we have the high authority of Prof. Alfred 

 Newton in support of the principles involved in the orderly 

 dissemination of life over the globe, shown by his expressed 

 belief in the overpowering dominance and dispersive power of 

 the birds of the European region, and his recognition that the 

 weaker and more primitive countries must be regarded as 

 refuges or sanctuaries of ancient life, for he says : 



The Western Palœarctic or European region has the most 

 highly developed ornithic fauna in the world, and is the one 

 from which the weakest types have been rigorously eliminated, 

 and it is wonderful that the region now possesses even one 

 peculiar family, as it should be remembered that all the famihes 



