PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. Sa 
and Polynesia, through New Guinea, whilé two species have 
gone south towards Australia. One of these occurs in 
Darnley Island, Torres Straits—/P. darnleiensis—(Fltchr.) ; 
the other has entered this continent, and appears to be 
peculiar—Ph. queenslandica (Fltchr). 
Deductions from the above Facts. 
This rather tedious survey teaches us three important 
facts : — 
(1) That New Zealand has no resemblance to Australia 
in respect of its earthworm fauna; 
(2) That, on the other hand, New Zealand has very 
close affinity to the southern extremity of 
Africa on the one hand, and to South America 
on the other; while 
(3) Australia presents a remarkable similarity to Cey- 
lon, but differs entirely from the intervening 
Indo-Malayan sub-region, and ‘the rest of the 
Oriental region. 
Dr. Wallace, in his “Island Life”’ (p. 74), says, in speak- 
ing of the distribution of mammals :—‘‘ Whenever we find a 
considerable number of mammals of two countries exhibiting 
distinct marks of relationship, we may be sure that an actual 
land-connection, or, at all events, an approach within a few 
miles of one another, has at one time existed.’”’ Now, this 
statement applies still more forcefully to earthworms, and, 
indeed, we must delete the qualifying clause as to a mere 
“approach,” for, as we have seen, earthworms cannot cross 
even a narrow arm of the sea; consequently, we must have 
direct continuity of land-surfaca to explain the facts. This 
statement of Wallace’s necessarily implies considerable 
changes in the disposition of land and sea, which involves 
an upheaval of the ocean-bed to form dry land. So long as 
the idea of a permanency of ocean basins was considered an 
article of faith by geologists, this continuity of land could 
only. be permitted by supposing movements of the sea-floor 
through a few fathoms round the coasts of continents, bring- 
ing islands into junction with the neighbouring continental 
area, or converting an archipelago into a continent; but 
within recent years several classes of evidance have led geo- 
logists and biologists to contemplate more extensive move- 
ments in an upward and downward direction, and great con- 
tinents have been evolved “ from the vasty deep.” 
Let me make another quotation, this time from Sir John 
Murray’s “Summary” of the Challenger Reports (p. 
1461) :—“ It is abundantly evident (he says) that the land 
