The conditions which have been recently revealed by an exploration of the antarctic islands mentioned above are totally different. Dr Benham has enumerated the following species from those islands, viz. _Notiodrilus haplocystis_, _N. fallax_, _N. aucklandicus_, _N. campbellianus_, _N. macquariensis_, _Plagiochaeta plunketi_, _Rhododrilus cockayni_, _Leptodrilus leptomerus_, _L. magneticus_, _Plutellus aucklandicus_, _Diporochaeta heterochaeta_, _D. brachysoma_, _D. helophila_, _D. perionychopsis_ among the Megascolecidae, besides _Phreodrilus campbellianus_, _Pelodrilus tuberculatus_, _P. aucklandicus_ and the Lumbricid _Helodrilus constrictus_. There were also four species of purely aquatic Oligochaeta which we shall leave aside from the present enumeration, as their range in space is a matter requiring a different explanation from that of the terrestrial forms. Here we have a series of worms, all of which, save the widely spread Lumbricid, are apparently absolutely indigenous to the islands mentioned since they are all different as _species_ from those found elsewhere. Indeed there is a whole genus _Leptodrilus_, consisting, it is true, of but two species, which is a native of the Campbell and Auckland islands and of those only. The other genera are found in the antarctic region, while _Pelodrilus_ is still more widely spread. These facts as will be observed contrast about as strongly as they can with those supplied by the fauna of Honolulu and its adjacent islands. Not only are the worms of the antarctic islands different species from those found elsewhere, but the majority of them do not consist of widely ranging peregrine forms. It appears therefore most probable that these islands are not oceanic islands but a portion of the former existing northern portion of the antarctic continent. Were the species _identical_ with those of New Zealand this conclusion would have of course to be reconsidered. The barriers to migration (see chap. VIII) explain the contrast recorded in the foregoing pages. CHAPTER VIII MOVEMENT AND MIGRATION AMONG EARTHWORMS