84 president's address — section d. 



In the Oligoch^ta we know, as yet, of only three species 

 of Tasmanian earthworms — one from near Hobart and two 

 from King Island. Though there are eleven genera repre- 

 sented in Australia, three in point of numbers may be re- 

 garded as dominant, viz., Cryplodrilus, Megascolides, and 

 Perichata. Thanks to Fletcher the New South Wales 

 earthworm fauna is fairly well known whilst that of Victoria 

 is only now being worked out and that of Tasmania, Soutli 

 Australia and Queensland is scarcely touched. Still our 

 present knowledge seems to indicate the same general result 

 as obtains in the case of the land planarians. At the 

 present time we know of nine genera in New South Wales 

 with fifty-five species of which twenty-one belong to Crypio- 

 drilus, twenty to Perich(sta, and four to Megascolides. Now, 

 in Victoria thirty species have so far been described of 

 which nine belong to Cri/ptodrilus, twelve to Megascolides, 

 nine to Perichata. In Tasmania, of the three described 

 species two belong to Megascolides and one to Crgptodrilns 

 whilst an undescribed form of Perichcsta has been collected. 

 Whilst the three genera are common to New South Wales, 

 Victoria and Tasmania, the species with few exceptions are 

 very restricted in their distribution and there is only one yet 

 known common to New South Wales and Victoria (P. 

 fastigatus. ) It is worthy of note that, so far as we know it 

 yet, the earthworm fauna north of the Victorian Dividing 

 Range is marked by the preponderance of the genus Crgpto- 

 drilns whilst to the south its place is taken by the genus 

 Megascolides and we have further an indication that in this 

 important respect Tasmania will probably be found to re- 

 semble Victoria. At any rate representatives of the three 

 genera most widely distributed in Victoria have been found 

 in Tasmania Avhilst south of the Dividing Ranges no speci- 

 mens of the genera Digaster, Perissogaster, or Didymo- 

 gaster have been recorded. The oligochsetous fauna of New 

 Zealand has been worked out by Beddard and it is of 

 importance to notice that the prevailing genus there is 

 Acanthodrilus. 



Now on the Australian Continent two species only of 

 this genus have been described, one from Cape York 

 and the other from King's Sound in the N.W. None 

 are known from New South Wales, Victoria, or, as yet, 

 Tasmania. On the other hand the genus occurs in New 

 Caledonia, Patagonia, Falkland Islands, S. Georgia, Ker- 

 guelen and Marion Islands and in S. Africa, a distribution 



