A CONTRIBUTION TO THE BIONOMICS 

 OF ENGLISH OLIGOCH^TA 



PART I. BRITISH EARTHWORMS 



By THE REV. HILDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S., F.R.M.S. 

 no, Wilmot Road, Swadlincote, Burton-on-Trent. April 10, 1913 



Scope of the Inquiry. — The annelids fall into two great orders, 

 which are known respectively as Polychaets and Oligochsets. 

 The former are marine, the latter terrestrial. Polychaets are 

 so named on account of the large number of bristles, chaetae 

 or setae, which are a characteristic of many of the species ; 

 while the Oligochaets are marked by the comparative fewness 

 of the setae. It is true that some Polychaets have few setae, 

 and some Oligochaets have many, but that simply shows that 

 Nature is not bound by human laws, or that no system of 

 classification is perfect. It is not proposed in this paper to 

 inquire into the bionomics of the Polychaets, the other great 

 order being more than sufficient for our present study. The 

 Oligochaets fall into various groups, and each is worthy our 

 most careful investigation. But in order that we may gain an 

 accurate knowledge of our subject it is necessary to restrict 

 ourselves to those species which are indigenous ; and as these 

 again are arranged in different families, each of which has its 

 own peculiarities, the inquiry will in the present instance be 

 limited to the largest forms of terrestrial annelids found in 

 Great Britain. These are popularly known as Earthworms, 

 and thus we are reminded of that interesting and instructive 

 volume by Darwin entitled Vegetable Mould and Earthworms. 



In spite of the splendid lead which that volume gave to a 

 subject of supreme importance, it is surprising how indifferent 

 the public has remained to the life-history and economics of 

 this class of animals. Many thousand copies of the work were 

 sold, and doubtless hundreds of readers opened their eyes in 

 amazement as they read. Then the book was closed, and the 

 eyes as well, never to be reopened except in the case of one 



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