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Show 1891.] EARTHWORM FROM WEST AFRICA. 173 shown that the Earthworm fauna of tropical Africa is very distinctive of that region. A large number of the species that have been described belong to a series of remarkable new genera of the family Eudrilidse ; and these have been found both upon the East and the West coasts, though at present the species and the genera are confined to one side of the continent or the other. Besides the Eudrilidae, representatives of the genus Acanthodrilus have been met with and a few other forms. The following is a complete list of Central and South-African Earthworms, excluding only representatives of the genera Lumbricus and Aflolobophora, which are probably not indigenous except in the North ; those that are queried require further identification. (1) 'EudLvilus jullieni, Horst. Liberia1. (2) Teleudrilus ragazzii, Rosa. Scioa. (3) Nemertodrilus griseus, Michaelsen. Quilimane. (4) Libyodrilus violaceus, nov. gen. et n. sp. Lagos. (5) Polytoreutus cceruleus, Mich. Mainland opposite Zanzibar. (6) Stuhlmannia variabilis, Mich. Mainland opposite Zanzibar. (7) Preussia siphonochceta, Mich. Barombi, Cameroons. (8) Paradrilus rosce, Mich. Barombi, Cameroons. (9) Eudriloides gypsatus, Mich. Zanzibar. (10) Eudriloides parvus, Mich. Quilimane. (11) Hyperiodrilus africanus, mihi. Lagos. (12) Heliodrilus lagosensis, mihi. Lagos. (13) Pygmceodrilus quilimanensis, Mich. Quilimane. (14) Acanthodrilus capensis, mihi. Cape. (15) Acanthodrilus (Benhamia) stuhlmanni, Mich. Quilimane. (16) Acanthodrilus (Benhamia) schlegelii, Horst. Liberia. (17) Acanthodrilus (Benhamia) biittikoferi, Horst. Liberia. (18) Acanthodrilus (Benhamia) beddardi, Horst. Liberia. 1 This species has been recently described by Dr. Horst (" Sur quelques Lombriciens Exotiques appartenant au Genre Eudrilus," M6in. Soc. Zool. France, t. iii. p. 223) from Liberia, and has been described by Dr. Michaelsen as occurring in Barombi. From Horst's description it is difficult to separate the species from those which have now been recorded from N e w Caledonia, Martinique, Rio Janeiro, Bahamas, British Guiana, N e w Zealand ; I can add St. Helena as a new locality. Prof. Loven has kindly exchanged with m e specimens of some of the Earthworms described five-and-twenty years ago by Kinberg; among them was a specimen of Kinberg's '•Lumbricus eugenics." His definition of that species was as follows :-" Lobus cephalicus terminalis, superus reticulatus, partem mediam tertiam latitudinis, partem dimidiam longitudinis, segmenti buccalis occupans ; segmentum buccale lateribus et primum corporis longitudine asquali; cingulum e segmentis 13-17 1. 12-14 conjectum; tubercula ventralia duo, inter segmenta 16-17 1. 15-16; segmenta 180; longitudo 180 mm." It is clear from the position of the clitellum that this species could not be a Lumbricus. Having dissected it, I find that it is a Eudrilus, though I have not been able to find any characters which distinguish it as a species. This genus even now requires revision ; it occurs in so many and such widely separated localities that the forms must probably differ specifically. |
