Earthworms from the Malay Archipelago 



Dr. R. HORST. 



With Plates II, III and IV. 



The earthworms, collected by Prof. Weber, during his journey in 

 the Malay Archipelago , form undoubtedly the first important collection 

 of this group thence brought to Europe. 



In the beginning of this century Kühl and van Hasselt, members 

 of the „Natuurkundige Commissie voor Nederlandsch-Indie" also col- 

 lected some earthworms in Java (f. i. the huge Perichaeta musica, after- 

 wards rediscovered by Mr. Vorderman), which were forwarded to the 

 Leyden Museum. In consequence of the premature death of those natura- 

 lists, these worms unfortunately remained undescribed till 1883, when they 

 were examined by myself, together with some examples , collected during 

 the „Sumatra-Expeditie" 1877-79. Vaillant (1868) and Perbier (1872) 

 were the first naturalists, who described some worms from Java; 

 afterwards Rosa examined the earthworms from Mas, collected by 

 Modigliani (1889) and Michaelsen described some species from Sangir 

 (1891). The gigantic Moniligaster from Sumatra, handed over to me 

 by Mr. van Houten and two species of Perichaeta, collected during a 

 journey in Billiton by Mr. Vorderman (1890), were described by myself. 

 As proved by the foregoing enumeration, our information about the 

 Malayan earthworms is very scanty. Naturalists generally did not 

 pay much attention to this group; f. i. in Prof. Martens' elaborate 

 description „die Preussische Expedition nach Ost-Asien" we find only 

 the following remarks: „Regenwürmer, den unsrigen ähnlich aber durch 

 schnittlich kleiner, fand ich auf den meisten der von mir besuchten 

 Inseln des Archipels einschliesslich den eigentlichen Molukken, wo sie 



