100 EARTHWORMS AND THEIR ALLIES [CH. 



according to my experience turns up in almost all 

 gatherings of earthworms from any part of the 

 tropical or even sometimes temperate regions of the 

 world. It seems to be fairly well settled that this 

 extensive genus has its real home in the islands of 

 the Eastern Archipelago, perliaps extending a little 

 in various directions from that centre. But examples 

 of the genus have been found in almost all other 

 regions. And what is especially to the point in 

 considering the facts, as will be pointed out with 

 more emphasis later, the assumedly peregrine species 

 do not differ from those found in the real district in 

 which the genus is indigenous. 



Dr Cognetti de Martiis enumerates in the Neo- 

 tropical region, that is in South and Central America 

 and the West Indies, the following species : Phere- 

 tima biserialis, P. californica, P. capensis, P. elon- 

 gata, P. hawayana, P. hesjyeridum, P. heterochaeta, 

 P. Iioidleti, P.jwsthuma, P. rodericensis, P. sehmardae 

 and P. violacea. Of these twelve species it is quite 

 certain that the last six occur in the East, where 

 they are doubtless indigenous. So too do the species 

 P. biserialis, P. capensis, and P. hawayana. The 

 synonymy of the different species of this large genus 

 is not yet in a completely settled condition. But 

 in the meantime it is in my opinion quite possible 

 that both P. liesperidiim and P. californica are 

 identical with species also occurring in the East. 



