738 6E0GEAPHICAL DISTBIBUTION OP EAETHWOEMS. [DeC. 5, 



OeientaIi eegiok. — Periclicvta, Megascolex, Perionyx, TypJiceus. 

 Australian region. — Merjascolex, Diporochoeta, Acanthodrilus, 



Digaster, Gryptodrilus, MegascoUdes. 

 Neotropical region. — Anteus, Rhinodnlus, Urohenus, Pontosco- 



lex, Diaclictita, Ocnerodrilus, Kerria, Acanthodi-ilus, Perichceta. 

 Ethiopian region. — 2Iic7'0chceta, Kynotus, SipJionogaster, Oordio- 



drihis, Pygmceodrilus, Benhamia, and Eudrilidce. 



It is clear from this abbreviated list that the Ethiopian and Neo- 

 tropical regions are the richest in abundant peculiar genera ; that 

 there is the closest resemblance between the Nearctic and the Palae- 

 arctic regions ; that there is a less close resemblance between the 

 Oriental and the Australian regions, in that both are characterized 

 especially by PerklicetidcB and Cryptodrilidce ; but it appears to me 

 that the Australian region of Mr. Sclater does not express the facts 

 of the distribution of Earthworms. New Zealand is so different. 

 There we have Acanthodrilidce (belonging to four genera) forming 

 the characteristic fauna and a very few Cryptodrilidce and Periclice^ 

 tidce; in Australia, on the other hand, we have the two families 

 Cnjptodrilidce andPericJicetidce extremely abundant and varied and 

 the merest trace of the family Acantliodrilid(e (three species only). 

 The Earthworm-fauna of New Zealand in fact is less like that 

 of the Australian continent than it is like Patagonia and some of 

 the intervening islands; from Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, 

 Kerguelen and Marion Islands the only Earthworms that are known 

 belong to the genus AcaniIiodriln,s. The amount of information on 

 this subject is not large, but it can hardly be an accidental circum- 

 stance that the four or five collections of worms examined from 

 these different parts of the world should have consisted only of 

 members of the genus Acanthodrilus; it must at least indicate 

 that that genus is the prevalent form. 



I should therefore propose an Antarctic region to comprehend the 

 tract of continent and islands just mentioned. With this exception 

 and possibly with the exception of the Nearctic and Palsearctic, 

 which ought perhaps, from the point of view of Earthworms, to be 

 fused into one circumpolar region, I think that the facts in the dis' 

 tribution of the Earthworms confirm the justice of distinguishing 

 the rest of Mr. Sclater's regions, viz. Oi*iental, Neotropical, and 

 Ethiopian. North of the Sahara the Earthworms, so far as we 

 know them, belong to European genera. I should not, however, 

 in every case make the boundaries of these regions along exactly 

 the same lines as those usually adopted, Japan, for example, 

 which possesses a good many PencJicetida;, ought, I believe, to be 

 referred to the Oriental region: perhaps the Australian region 

 should be limited to the continent of Australia ; such worms as I 

 have seen from Borneo conform to the Oriental rather than to the 

 Australian type. On various points of this kind information is 

 greatly wanted ; it is an easy thing to collect these animals, and 

 they can be readily preserved by killing them in very weak spirit 

 and then preserving them in strong spirit, which should be changed 

 once or twice. 



