A. THE OLIGOCH^TA OF INDIA, NEPAL, CEYLON, BURMA 

 AND THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 



By Dr. W. MichaeIvSEn, Hamburg Natural History Museum. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The present memoir is based mainly on the extensive collection made by the 

 officers and friends of the Indian Museum ^ Calcutta , and entrusted to me for examina- 

 tion by Dr. N. ANNANDAIyE, the Superintendent of that institution. I have sup- 

 plemented the study of this collection by examining smaller ones belonging to the 

 Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Pre- 

 liminary descriptions of the new species included in the three collections have been 

 already published in the " Mitteilungen aus dem Naturhistorischen Museum in Ham- 

 burg," vol. xxiv, 1907. 



Our former knowledge of the oligochœte fauna of India was of a somewhat sporadic 

 character, but the rich materials referred to enable me to give a more complete picture 

 of it. There remain, it is true, rather large districts from which we know nothing 

 or very little about the Oligochaeta, especially in the central and western parts of the 

 Indian Empire. Indeed, it does not seem impossible that a further investigation will 

 lead to unexpected results. On the whole, however, we may now be sure as regards 

 the principal characters of this interesting fauna and are justified in drawing conclusions 

 as to its distribution and as to the geological history on which this distribution 

 depends. 



L— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS, 



LIMITS OF THE TERRITORY DISCUSSED. 



As regards the limits of the territory dealt with in this memoir; they 

 are determined in the first instance by the provenance of the specimens entrusted 

 to me by Dr. ANNANDALE. All these specimens were collected in British 

 India (including Burma and the Andamans), Nepal or Ceylon. The 

 fact that the territory included within these limits does not represent a uniform 

 whole wiU not interfere with the unity of the treatise, for the Indian fauna is not uniform 

 in itself but is scattered through several faunistic provinces, which are not altogether 

 confined within the political boundaries of the Indian Empire and Ceylon. By in- 

 cluding the adjacent islands and countries in my survey I will, however, be better 

 able to describe the Indian provinces and make their relations with the neighbouring 

 faunistic regions more clear. 



