128 Transactions. — Zoology. 



disturbing and consuming the tender roots, and absorbing all 

 nutritious particles from the soil. If pots are thus infected, and 

 the plants carefully turned out, it will be seen that they keep 

 chiefly to the sides of the pots. The burrow or track against 

 the side is generally open. The tender feeding-roots can be seen 

 " pressed into the walls," and their actions choked iu the viscid 

 lining of the burrow. They deposit their castings among the 

 drainage cracks beneath the mould, and, if not removed, wiU 

 sometimes effectually choke the drainage. Worms, especially 

 half-grown specimens of Endrilus annulatus, occasionally hiber- 

 nate in pots, even when the conditions are favourable for their 

 actions. 



Some of our worms present some problems, which, as 

 yet, I have not been able to solve. I have already mentioned a 

 large undescribed species existing in a few swampy places on 

 the Plains. Here, near Oamaru, it exists as a more diminutive 

 species, although the conditions appear equally favourable for 

 its development. In one particular swamp, on the south side of 

 the Eangitata Gorge, it attains its maximum size, some speci- 

 mens measuring 13 and 14 inches, and varies much iu colour 

 from each locality, from yellowish-white to dark reddish-pink. 



The diseases of earth-worms are little known ; yet they are 

 subject to some of a virulent type. I have seen a few individuals 

 of A. uliginosKs with hard excrescences on different parts of their 

 bodies. They appear to be painful to the animals, as the 

 slightest touch on one of them causes the worm to shrink. The 

 disease first appears as a small hard pimple, and increases 

 gradually in size. It sometimes almost surrounds the worm's 

 body. At this stage the swelling softens and opens, and the 

 intestines protrude, tinged with blood, when the miserable 

 creature finally rots away. 



Mr. Darwin, in his "Vegetable Mould," page 14, remarks: 

 •' After heavy rain succeeding dry weather, an astonishing num- 

 ber of worms may sometimes be seen lying on the surface." 

 He believed that they were " already sick," and that their 

 deaths were " merely hastened by the ground being flooded." 

 He thought if they had been drowned ' ' they would have 

 perished in their burrows." After many years experience with 

 worms, under all circumstances, I am fully convinced that severe 

 and protracted droughts are both distressing and destructive to 

 them. When drought sets m they are compelled to hibernate, 

 excepting those aflecting the edges of permanent swamps. If it 

 be severe, the mould becomes so intensely hard that they are 

 unable to escape, and many perish with exhaustion. If the 

 drought be succeeded by heavy rains, many survive ; while some 

 appear to have only sufficient strength to struggle to the surface 

 and die from the same cause, probably accelerated in their weak 

 state by a little cold or exposure. I think this is borne 



