S^diTH.— Notes on New Zealand Earth-worm, 131 



dead grass with a sharp spade until the mouths were exposed. 

 I then pour a small quantity of a weak saturated solution of 

 . corrosive sublimate into the burrow. No sooner does it come in 

 contact with the animal's body than it starts to the surface. 

 Sometimes they rise 12 or 15 inches from the mouth of the 

 burrow where the solution is poured in, but invariably at the 

 mouth to which the worm's head is directed. I never saw one 

 leave its burrow tail first, except when it was a new one in course 

 of making. 



Another method of testing the form of these burrows 

 is to insert a fine pliable twig (a weeping-willow answers 

 well) into them, passing it through from one mouth to the 

 other. It is at times difficult to do this, unless the solution 

 be used, as the worms will often refuse to leave the burrow, 

 or when both mouths are close together on the surface, or 

 branches in other directions. When the twig is passed through, 

 it is then easy to dig away the mould or clay on one side and 

 examine the burrow. The two or more mouths vary from 2 to 

 18 inches apart. When they meet close together on the surface, 

 the worms often lie in the morning with portions of their 

 bodies exposed, with head and tail down each mouth of the 

 burrow, as if enjoying the sun's warmth ; but the habit causes 

 the death of many, as the keen eyes of the weka and swamp -hen 

 detect them, and the birds snatch them from their burrows. 



When they are working in a considerable depth of rich 

 mould they do not always line their burrows, especially in 

 mild weather. Others, again, are partially lined, being 

 dotted over sparingly with " small globular pellets adhering to 

 the walls." When living m clay or clayey land the walls 

 of the burrows are thickly liued with viscid earth, and can 

 be examined perfectly, as the dark lining of the burrow con- 

 trasts well with the clay. The latter being colder, accounts 

 for the greater thickness of lining. In depth, the burrows 

 vary from 4 to 20 inches ; those of the young worms are 

 generally about 3 or 4 inches. It is difficult to dig up whole 

 burrows without fracturing them, yet I have succeeded in 

 raising some perfect ones, which 1 will forward to the Colonial 

 Museum. When frosts or droughts set in, many of them hiber- 

 nate for a time ; the chambers in which they hibernate are 

 sometimes excavated on one side of the burrow, or a few inches 

 from its walls, but commonly in the middle, and form an 

 enlargement. The chambers are always lined with viscid earth ; 

 in addition to this they are often saturated with slime from the 

 animal's body, this forms a cool and slimy bed ; they then roll 

 themselves up in the form of a ball, or lie coiled in a circle, with 

 the head in the centre. I have dug them out tied in a perfect 

 knot, or in the form of a running noose, with head and tail 

 placed together. After hibernating for some time, especially in 



