14* 



NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN OLIGOCHiETS. 



Rev. HILDERIC FRIEND, 



Cocke 9 won th . 



The worms are divided into two orders, and are known as Oligochreta 

 and Polychasta. The setae form the basis of classification. In some 



worms the setae are numerous, whence the name Polychseta. In 



addition to other characters the Polychaets are, for all practical 

 purposes, marine. The other worms possess few bristles, and live 

 on land or in fresh water. The line between the two groups, so far 

 as the number of bristles is concerned, is not hard and fast, for there 

 are Oligochaets with many bristles and Polychaets with few. Further, 

 the many-bristled Oligochaets are chiefly aquatic, and so form a close 

 connecting link between the marine worms on the one hand and the 

 terrestrial on the other. With the Polychaets we have for the present 

 no concern. 



The Oligochaets again fall into two great and well-marked groups, 

 and are known as the terrestrial and the limicolous. True, some of 



the terrestrial group prefer the water, and many of those which fall 

 into the aquatic section live on land, but on the whole the distinctive 

 features of the groups are strong and clear. In the British fauna 

 the earthworms belong entirely to one family, the Lumbriculida\ 

 and to three genera only, namely, Lumbricus. Allo/obop/wra, and 

 Allurus. With these we are already familiar. For three years no 

 new species has been added to the list, so that our terrestrial specie- 

 may be said to number about a Quarter of a hundred. Of the 



limicoline species, on the other hand, we may be said to be in total 

 ignorance. Doubtless they may be numbered not by scores but by 

 hundreds, yet it is doubtful whether at present we know, by actual 

 printed descriptions, more than a score. Bousfield has dealt with 

 Dero, Beddard with ^-Eolosima, Benham with JVais, Stylodrilus and 

 Sparganophilus, and there, roughly speaking, the matter ends. On 

 the Continents of Europe and America much has been done, in 

 comparison with the little done at home, and thanks to the labours 

 of Rosa, Vejdovsky, Stole, Ude. Eisen, Smith and others, we have 

 a mass of material at hand to guide us and spur us on. Every 



deal 



species 



spec 



keep pace with all the new arrangements and discoveries. 



Thanks to the publication of Beddard J s Monograph (see supra. 

 p. 77-80), we now have a well-defined starting point, and it should 

 be comnarative 



May a 896. 



