82 EARTHWORMS AND THEIR ALLIES [ch. 



We shall therefore consider this huge portion of the 

 globe as one region comparable to the other divisions 

 that have been hitherto considered. With reference 

 to the Lumbricidae and Geoscolecidae the same 

 remarks may be made as in the case of India. 

 The indigenous forms of the latter family are 

 to be looked upon as outside of the present survey 

 since they are largely or entirely aquatic forms. 

 Pontoscolex corethrurtis, and Eudrilus eugeniae, need 

 not detain us for reasons already amply stated. We 

 now come to the great family Megascolecidae. Of 

 this family the genus Pheretima stands at the head ; 

 and of the 200 or so species that have been or can 

 be assigned to this genus all, with merely two or three 

 exceptions, are natives of the Eastern Archipelago 

 and adjoining mainlands of Asia. Of other Mega- 

 scolecinae the region has yielded the following genera. 

 In Java one species of Woodwardia ( W.javanica) has 

 lately been described. It is regarded by Michaelsen 

 however as doubtfully indigenous. And the same 

 remark may be made of Perionyx. Plionogaster, 

 however, with four or five species, is limited, as far 

 as our present knowledge goes, to the Philippines and 

 to neighbouring islands. The Acanthodrilinae and 

 Octochaetinae are totally absent from this part of the 

 world, there being no record even of peregrine species 

 of these sub-families. The sub-family Trigastrinae is 

 not however unrepresented ; for of Dichogaster several 



