124 Transactions . — Zoo logy . 



in their natural state, differ much in their economy from the 

 British Liimbricus ; but more esi^ecially in the pecuhar semi- 

 circular and distinctly branching burrows they construct. This, 

 however, does not apply to all species, as there are others which 

 cannot be said to construct any particular form of burrow : 

 those species, for instance, which live and bore, or burrow, in 

 every direction in loose decaying vegetable matter, or rotten 

 wood, in the bush. The habit of lining their burrows with 

 leaves or other materials is absent with worms in Canterbm'y 

 and Otago. Mr. A. T. Urquhart, in an excellent paper 

 "On the Habits of Earth-worms in New Zealand,"* has 

 shown that the habit obtains with worms inhabiting the 

 Auckland District. He has also shown that they are con- 

 tent with drawing in leaves to the mouths of their burrows ; 

 but he thinks they are chiefly for food. The same habit 

 prevails with worms in Canterbury and Otago ; but here 

 in the South, where they live beneath gravel-walks, they 

 draw small stones over to conceal the mouth of the bur- 

 rows, when not protected by the usual covering of viscid 

 castings. My notes have been gathered in the country between 

 the Eivers Eakaia and Kakauui, and I do not venture to treat 

 of worms beyond the limits of these rivers, although no doubt 

 they will be found to vary little. 



Between the two rivers, a distance of 115 miles, worms 

 abound in all the forests, hills, downs, and plains; in some dis- 

 tricts they are abundant, in others they occur sparingly. 

 Wherever a clearing is made in the forests they are very active 

 in favourable weather, and throw up immense quantities of 

 castings on the surface. Worms increase in numbers more 

 rapidly in forest clearings than in open pastures ; it is due 

 to the mould containing much decayed matter, which they 

 so much relish. They are plentiful beneath dense beds of 

 ferns, or any undergrowth in the forest, and occur sparingly on 

 all the diverging spurs of Mount Peel, Eangitata, up to 4,000 

 feet. If a prostrate log in the bush be rolled over, large 

 numbers of worms of several species will sometimes be found 

 secreted beneath it ; the same may be said of flat stones, and 

 slabs of wood. About farm homesteads, where old bags are 

 left lying on the ground, worms gather beneath them in great 

 numbers, especially during moist or wet weather. They appear 

 to prefer the shelter of rotten bags lying on the surface ; it is 

 probably for warmth, as they do not generally burrow beneath 

 them. 



In old forests, where small streams flow through them, 

 sections of considerable thickness are often exposed in their 

 banks ; at depths varying from 10 to 40 inches a distinct layer 



• "Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. xvi., pp. 266-275. 



