DISTRIBUTION OF BRITISH ANNELIDS. 185 



The first attempt to give information on the subject, if we 

 omit minor references in general books, was made by Dr. John- 

 ston (1). In his Catalogue we find eleven earthworms recorded, 

 together with three or four other Oligochsets. The greater part 

 of the volume, however, deals with marine worms, or Polychsets, 

 and the few land forms which are mentioned need much revision 

 to bring them into line with present-day nomenclature. The 

 records are limited to some half-dozen localities, including Ber- 

 wick, Kelso, Hammersmith, and Devon. In the year 1890, 

 when I took up the study, there were three authorities in 

 England : Professor (now Sir) E. Eay Lankester was known 

 for his anatomical work, Beddard was preparing for the pro- 

 duction of his splendid Monograph (2), and Benham was in- 

 vestigating the waterworms. The latter would doubtless long 

 ago have produced a volume dealing with British Annelids, but 

 for his removal from our shores. Lankester's work was only 

 incidentally connected with distribution, while Beddard's was 

 on a world-wide scale, and consequently mentions regions or 

 countries only. His Monograph is of value, from our point of 

 view, chiefly because it enables us to form an opinion on the 

 probability or otherwise of finding any given genus or species of 

 worm in the British Isles. The same applies also to his valu- 

 able article on the "Classification and Distribution of Earth- 

 worms" in the 'Proceedings' of the Royal Society (vol. x. 

 p. 235 et seq.). 



It is to Southern that we owe the first attempt (3) to supply 

 a list of British Oligochsets, including alike the earthworms and 

 the microscopic forms. His list, though it omitted many species 

 of EnchytraBids and other worms with which I had long been 

 familiar, contains one hundred and thirty-five British species 

 and subspecies, and must ever be regarded as the foundation 

 upon which any future superstructure shall be raised. Naturally 

 it gives us special help in relation to Ireland. 



Next in order comes the valuable article by Evans (4) dealing 

 with the Forth Area. Mr. Evans is a diligent collector, and has 

 not confined his researches to the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 

 as we shall gather from later records. 



To the foregoing I may add allusion to the " Check List of 

 British Earthworms," published by myself, and revised from 



