A monograph of the order of Oligochaeta

Handle with EXTREME CARE, mis volume is and ; damaged or brittle CANNOT be repaired! photocopy only return to staff donotpm in if necessary bookdroo OLIGOCHAETA JJonbon HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER, MACMILLAN & CO., E.C 66 FIFTH AVENUE /:, A MONOGRAPH OF THE ORDER OF OLIGOCHAETA BY FRANK EVERS BEDDARD M.A (OxoN.), F.R.S PROSECTOR TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON AND LECTURER ON BIOLOGY AT GUY'S HOSPITAL OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS M DCCC XCV *$ i PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE are already two works dealing with the Order Oligochaeta first of these, in time of publication, is The Professor Franz Vejdovsky's 'System und Morphologie der Oligochaeten,' which appeared in 1884 Six years later Professor L^on Vaillant contributed to the volumes on the ' ' a volume and a half dealing with the same group It might appear, therefore, at first sight, that the ground has already been taken up, and that there is no occasion for the present work It must be recollected, however, that it is nearly ten years since the Annelids of the Suites k Buffon publication of Professor Vejdovsky's treatise, and that during this period more particularly of the earthworms, Professor Vejdovsky's object, moreover, was more our knowledge of the Oligochaeta, has increased enormously especially to give an account of the structure of the group from his own observations, and to spend less time in dealing with the results of other not that the previous work upon the group was by any means neglected by him, but no great amount of detail was given as to the genera and species of Oligochaeta not occurring in his native country observers work rather more comprehensive in scope, but there so that the large is no account of any researches made after the year 886 amount of literature which has appeared since that date has not yet been M Vaillant's is ; M Vaillant's contribution also is rather incorporated into any general work more devoted to the systematic side of the subject than to the description of structure appeared to me that there was room for a treatise of rather wider scope than those of either Professor Vejdovskv or Under these circumstances it PREFACE vi of M Vaillant, and one which should deal with the entire subject up to the date of publication As will be seen from the bibliography which I have given in the Appendix, the literature of this subject is large and scattered ; so that to bring together under one cover all of importance that known about the group is as yet of the Oligochaeta will possibly be considered not to have been a useless performance In attempting this labour I have received much kindly encouragement from Professor Ray Lankester, which I gratefully I have been so fortunate, through the kind influence of acknowledge Dr Burdon Sanderson, as to secure the assistance of the Clarendon Press, to the Delegates of which institution I wish to express ness The my great indebted- cost of the necessary illustrations, which has been considerable, has been largely defrayed by the generosity of Mr J P Gassiot, F Z S., 100 at my who, at the suggestion of Mr Sclater, has placed a sum of Without disposal for this purpose this very liberal act of assistance on Mr Gassiot's part this work could hardly have been undertaken The I may now say a few words about the scope of this monograph study of the group with which it deals is one which has occupied my leisureI have had the opportunity of dissecting time for the past fifteen years and examining most, if not all, of the more important types so that while ; ; a good part of the volume siderable proportion of is necessarily derived from compilation, a con- the result of first-hand knowledge Whilst recent papers into the present work, I have also it is have amalgamated my incorporated with it a certain amount of new matter which I I have not published elsewhere, and I have given, in the systematic part, descriptions of have not, however, made any lengthy investigations for the express purpose of this monograph, but I have in several cases verified the statements of others, and have corrected, in a few minor particulars, a few new species I errors of observation on the part of myself, as well as of other zoologists Those who have not followed closely the progress of knowledge in this group of animals may be surprised at the large number of pages which it has taken me to set down the facts : I have erred, however, rather on the side of compression and omission than on that of undue prolixity The omissions (with a few exceptions to be noted immediately) will not be found, I trust, to be of facts of much importance They chiefly concern the progress of our ... Dr Rosa's detailed families of the Oligochaeta have appeared account of the Lumbricidae, and to Dr Michaelsen's Synopsis of the While this work was in : ' ' Enchytraeidae The appearance of these... male pores are exceedingly conspicuous; will be an Acanthodrilid If the TH ANATOMY SETAE E they are in this family nearly always unpaired and median The pores of the spermathecae are not always... in habitat PAET I THE ANATOMY OF THE OLIGOCHAETA The Bibliography appended to the present work shows how very recent is our of the knowledge anatomy of the Oligochaeta Of the exotic earthworms,