THE SCIENCE CONGRESS. DISTRIBUTION OF EARTHWORMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2497, 22 January 1902, Page 11

THE SCIENCE CONGRESS.

DISTRIBUTION OF EARTHWORMS.

At tno session of the Australasian Si ie nee Congress, hold at Hobart, Professor W. D. Bcnham, D.Sc, of the Uimeriity of Ota^o, New Zealand, delivered an address on " Tlie Distribution of Earthworms or Palcrogeography." Up said that the impoitnnco which attached to the study of the geogiaphical distribution of earthworms had thi>- groat drawback, that, being soft-bodied, no fos-il-, could be expected in geological dtpo-its. (Jne great atlrantage was that, as the earthworms could only h\e on dry land, and a-> they and their ogg<s are incapable of exi-tence in th? sea, and since it v>a^ known that by no agency other than that of man could they -be ton\'\i<l from one part of the earth'.s surface to tiie otlni, thu ini-Diii of clo=cly allied .spc'cu'i m jjait- of the world now scpaFSki^it ky JiUitfi. Uif : ta ul M£i\U fiailkiiujJy J4g

explained by supposing some direct land connections to have existed at some former geological period. The earthworms living in New Zealand and its outlying islands belonged to a series of genera most of which arc peculiar to the islands, constituting a family known as acantho-dribids. But one of this kind occurs also at the Cape of Good Hopo and in South America, mi both of which localities it is represented' by numerous species. Biologists have sought to explain the resemblance by supposing the existing lands to have extended farther south, and to have met a more extensive tract of land in the Antarctic regions known a.-, " Antarctica." This land must have had a much milder climate than, at tne pre>ent time. There was ample evidence that Now Zealand and its outlying islands weie at one time in land connection, owing to the elevation of the sea bot'-' torn extending from New Caledonia on the north to the Macquaries on the south ;i from the Chathams eastward to Norfolk Island. It was in the Antipodes that tho ac.mtho dribids had their original home; thence they migrated northwards or souths wards b\ land which is now submerged below the- sea. Tim worms inhabiting Tasmania aie totally unlike those of New Zealand , they belong to genera characteristic of Australia, and are especially abundant on the south-east corner of the continent. The majority of these worms are cryto-di lbids Tho only otlier part of the world in which these essentially Australian earthworms occur is Ceylon. The intervening ji'jjioms- -New Guinea, the Malay Archipelago, Southern Asia, Burmah, and India — are occupied by quite a distinct set. Tho Australian, earthworms originated in tho Oriental legion, and migrated westward and ■■outhwaid One striking fact seems to i-,iic lioin the ntudy — vi 7., that Australia, had lo«t its coneeuon Ula Tasmania) with Antarctica before New Zealand did, and in this inspect is suggestive of the theory propounded by Cantain Hutton, that a South Pacific continent existed in the early tertianes, crossing the Pacific Ocean from Nett Guinea to Chili. A vote of thanks was accorded Professoi Bfiiham for hii paper.