19U3.] OLIGOCH/ETA FROM XEW ZEALAND. 203 



generosity in thus aifoi'ding me an oppoi'tunity, for many years 

 to come likely to remain unique, of examining the deep-water 

 Oligochfeta of our lakes. 



In view of the extremely interesting character of the terres- 

 trial Oligochsetes of New Zealand, both from a morphological and 

 a zoo-geographical aspect, it seemed probable that our deep lakes 

 of the South Island would contain equally interesting species ; 

 but the i-esult of my investigation, though not wholly without 

 interest, is rather disappointing. Foi-, wdiereas our terrestrial 

 fauna includes several endemic genera, like Maoridrilus, Plagio- 

 chceta, iVeodrilus, Deinoclrilus, and Octochcetus, our lacustrine genera 

 are, with one exception, of an exotic character ; and even the single 

 new genus that I have ventured to create, viz. Taupodi-ilus, is 

 very near akin to a European worm, Branchiura coccinea of 

 Yejdovsky. 



But amongst the new species that are here enumei-ated, some 

 are of considerable interest. Of the genus Phreodrilus Beddard, 

 originally founded for a New-Zealand worm, but now extended to 

 include certain South- American aquatic species previously placed 

 by Beddard in the genus Hesperodrilus^ I find two new represen- 

 tatives : one of which is " Hesperodrilid " in the nature of the 

 male efferent apparatus, and therein agreeing with the Kerguelen- 

 Island form and South- Amei-ican species, rather than with the 

 original representative from New Zealand. This genus thvis has a 

 distribution similar to that of our earthworms belonging to the 

 genus JVotiodrilus . 



Two other species deserve mention here : Diporochceta aquatica, 

 sp. n., and Flatellus lacitstris, sp. n., for both of these genera are 

 characteiistically Austi-alian . 



The genus Diporochceta was founded oi-iginally by Beddard for 

 D. interine.dia from Lake Brunner in this colony ; but it has now 

 been extended so as to include a number of Australian species, and 

 hitherto Beddard's species has been the only representative on this 

 island. It is worth noting that both our species occur in water-, 

 whereas the majority of the species are terrestrial. 



As to Plutellus lacustris, it differs from the rest of the species 

 in certain characters, viz., the loss of gizzard, and the absence of 

 nephridia in the pregenital segments ; and at fii-st I was inclined 

 to form a new genus for it, but these features, in which it 

 approaches Fontodi'ilus (an inhabitant of the sea-shore in various 

 parts of the world), appear correlated with an aquatic habit. 



These two genera, Diporochceta and Plutellus, belong to the 

 subfamily Megascolecinaj, and they are the only representatives 

 of this subfamily in New Zealand. It is true that Schmarda 

 attributed Notoscolex {Hypogceon) orthostichon to New Zealand, 

 but this appears to have been due to an error — to a lapsus calami. 

 He gives as the locality " Mt. Wellington " : now, there is no such 

 mountain in the district visited by Schmarda in New Zealand, 

 but he did visit Mt. Wellington at Hobart, Tasmania ; and there 

 is no doubt in my mind that he obtained " ^. orthostichon" in 



