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  Kuhl  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  Perrier  (1872) 
were  the  first  naturalists,  who  described  some  worms  from  Java; 
afterwards  Rosa  examined  the  earthworms  from  Nias,  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 
