384 CHAS. CHILTON. 



affinities to several distinct groups, must be of very considerable 

 antiquity." 



This was written in 1882, though not published till 1883; 

 I little thought then that in 1917 1 should be able to describe 

 a fossil Phreatoicus from the Triassic of Australia. 



In 1891 I described a species, P. australis, with eyes, 

 which had been obtained in surface waters at a height of 

 nearly 6,000 feet, on Mount Kosciusko, Australia, and 

 established the family Phreatoicidae for the reception of 

 the two species then known. In 1893 Stebbing placed the 

 family in a separate tribe Phreatoicidea (1893, p. 388). 



In 1894 I gave fuller descriptions of these two species, 

 and described a third species, P. assimilis, also blind, from 

 the underground waters of the Canterbury Plains. In con- 

 nection with the origin of the subterranean species of 

 Phreatoicus, I expressed the opinion that species would 

 some day be found in the surface waters of New Zealand. 

 This prophecy was fulfilled by the discovery of P. kirkii in 

 1906. 



In 1894, Mr. G. M. Thomson described a species, P. 

 tasmanice, from the Great Lake, Tasmania. 



In 1896, Spencer and Hall established an allied genus, 

 Phreatoicopsis, for the species, P. terricola, found burrow- 

 ing in the banks of the upper Gellibrand River, Victoria, 

 Australia. 



In 1900, Sayce described another blind species of Phre- 

 atoicus, P. shephardi, from a spring at a height of 2,000 

 feet in the Plenty Ranges, Victoria; in 1916 this species 

 was recorded from Barrington Tops (4,600 feet), New 

 South Wales, by myself and more fully described. In the 

 same year (1900) Sayce established another genus, Phre- 

 atoicoides, for the blind species, P. gracilis, from surface 

 runnels, Gippsland, Victoria. 



