152 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Old English Names. 



Cornelian cherry. 



Ciboulis. 



Clown's all-heal, B. 



Cassidony. 



Christ's thorn. 



Cockscomb. 



Cobnut. 



Ash weed. 



English mercury or 

 allgood, B. 



Great caltrops, B. 



Bugloss cowslip, B. 



Green blite, B. 



Calathian violet, B. 



Azarole. 



Bachelor's pear. 



Bear's-ear. 



Bitterwort. 



Elite. 



Bloodwort. 



Burning plant. 



Cardinal-flower. 



Feathered colum- 

 bine. 



Costmary. 



Cow's lungwort. 



Jerusalem cowslip. 



Lofthouse. 



Modern Synonyms. 



Common cornel. 



Common garlic. 



Stachys pahistris. 



Cudweed. 



Buckthorn. 



Lousewort. 



Hazel. 



Common goutweed. 



Goosefoot (C. Bonus ffen~ 



ricus). 

 Great pondweed. 

 Broad-leaved lungwort. 

 Goosefoot (C. viride). 

 Marsh gentian. 

 Whitethorn. 

 Woody nightshade. 

 Primrose. 

 Field gentian. 

 Amaranthus. 

 Common dock. 

 Common spurge. 

 Water lobelia. 

 Common meadow-rue. 



Tansy. 



Great mullein. 



Broad-leaved lungwort. 



Geo. Roberts. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A THREAD- 

 SPINNING ANNELID. 



I FOUND what I supposed to be a kind of nais- 

 worm upon the flat boarded roof of an out- 

 house, through which, after rain, water percolated 

 freely ; the worm's movements were peculiar : it kept 

 on gliding along the wet board for a few inches, and 

 returning to the point from which it started ; possibly 

 the light of a candle may have alarmed the creature, 

 as it darted to and fro as if in swimming, and 

 apparently in defiance of gravity. 



Desirous of knowing how the worm kept in 

 position, I put it in a test tube with a few drops of 

 water, and examined it next morning ; it was about 

 one inch and a half long, light red in colour, and 

 somewhat translucent, the head was mandibular, and 

 could be retracted, together with the first two seg- 

 ments, within the body, telescope-like ; it had been 

 employed over-night in lining the glass tube with 

 silken threads, braced and attached in a very me- 

 thodical way, so as to allow the inmate to move 

 freely through the middle of the mesh, which formed 

 a tunnel the length of the tube ; the construction of 

 this tunnel explained the facility with which the 

 worm glided along the dripping roof. 



I placed the whole arrangement under a low power, 



and watched the progress of the work. On the head 

 protruding, the mouth was filled and distended with 

 a clear viscous fluid ; stretching forward, a drop 

 resembling fluid marine glue in adhesiveness and 

 consistency was attached to the side of the tube and 

 drawn out into a thread ; turning its head, the worm 

 fastened the end held in its mandibles to the collar of 

 the first segment of its body, and similarly drew out 

 two other threads, which were united to the ends with 

 the first, and then slipped down to the collar of the 

 third segment, where they were held until the process 

 was twice repeated and nine threads spun ; grasping 



Fig. loo.— Head and first three Segments of Thread-spinning 

 Worm. X 50. 



the ends of all the threads in its mandibles, it glued 

 them in a point to one of the cables running the 

 length of the tube : this process was continued until 

 the glass tube became filled with the silken mesh. 



Having satisfied myself as to the spinning powers 

 of this annelid, I procured other examples, which 

 were sent away for determination, but so far un- 

 successfully. Probably the worm may not be un- 

 common ; but the occurrence of a thread-spinning 

 annelid was new to me, and I have failed so far in 

 my inquiries to ascertain that this capability has 

 hitherto been observed and recorded. 



