BRITISH ANNELIDS.
193
London Clay and Bagshot Sand, have I been able to discover any
trace of marine remains, excepting fossils derived from older forma-
tions ; nor have I seen any reason to believe that the sea has flowed
over this part of Essex either during or since the great Ice Age.
NOTE.—Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., finds fault with my state-
ment that the "Glacial Drift of Essex consists mainly of local
material" (compare Essex Nat., vol. v., pp. 109, 133); and I
therefore take this opportunity of pointing out that of the above
classes of materials, No. 1 may well have come from the Eocene
beds, or Pre-glacial gravels of the immediate neighbourhood ; Nos.
2 and 3 from the chalk or older gravels of North Essex; and Nos. 4
and 7 from the Pre-glacial pebble gravel (Westleton shingle) of North
Essex, leaving only classes 5 and 6, which have, no doubt, come from
a distance.—H. W. M., 4 November, 1891.
BRITISH ANNELIDS.
WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EARTHWORMS OF ESSEX.
By REV. HILDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S.
IN these days of detailed research, when every department of
natural history is being carefully explored, and every secret process
in the development of life investigated, it is curious that so little
attention has been paid to our indigenous annulosa, and especially
the ubiquitous, easily obtained, and readily studied earthworms.
Many naturalists seem to be still under the impression that we have
but one species of Earthworm in the British Isles, the life-history of
which is so thoroughly well known that nothing more remains to be
done in the matter of its study. No delusion could be greater. If
we limit ourselves entirely to genuine earthworms, or Lumbrici, we
shall find at least a dozen well-worked species ; and it is perhaps not
too much to prophesy that the number will shortly be raised to a
score or more. As yet, some of the most interesting portions of
the island (not to say the British Isles) have not been examined
even in the most casual way, while even those counties whose worm-
fauna has been examined, may yet yield numerous other species
or varieties when our researches have been more thorough and
extensive.