196 Phylum Annelida 



dead and dying worms removed. Should it happen that the worms are 

 not keeping well those that are healthy should be removed and placed in 

 a fresh box of leaves and loam. 



Earthworms also keep well in very light, loamy soil. If this is used it 

 is often advisable to feed the worms. Bread crumbs or corn meal make 

 excellent food. The food should be moistened with water, spread spar- 

 ingly over the top of the soil every 2 or 3 weeks and covered with about 

 an inch of loam. Feed sparingly and not too often or the food will spoil 

 and the worms may die. 



Avoid trying to keep too many worms in one box. A cubic foot of 

 culture material, after it has settled, will be sufficient for about 50 worms. 

 Cover the boxes with panes of glass and keep cool. Temperatures above 

 6o° F. usually prove fatal. 



While cocoons of this earthworm are not easily obtainable, a few of 

 them may usually be found by carefully sorting over the loamy material 

 in the boxes after the worms have been stored in it for a month or so. 

 The young worms emerge from the cocoons in a few weeks and thrive 

 under the same treatment as that given the adults. 



The fecal earthworm, Eisenia [=Allolobopkora] joetida, which is 

 much hardier than Lumbricus terrestris, and which is rather extensively 

 used for experimental purposes, keeps very well in partly rotten cow and 

 horse manure. The worms may usually be found here in abundance. 

 They copulate and form large numbers of cocoons in the laboratory, if 

 kept in containers supplied with this material. 



The small white earthworm, Enchytraeus albidus, lives well in the 

 laboratory. In addition to being an excellent food for small fish and 

 Amphibia it may be narcotized with chloretone and used to demonstrate 

 many annelid structures with the aid of a binocular microscope. Keep 

 in boxes filled with black loam and feed sparingly with bread soaked in 

 milk or water. After each feeding the food should be covered with about 

 an inch of loam. The material should be kept moist but not soaked. 

 The worms prefer temperatures around 55°-6o° F. Higher temperatures 

 should be avoided. 



Reference 



For the feeding of earthworms see also note on p. 49. 



CULTURE OF ALLOLOBOPHORA 



R. N. Dantelson, University of Minnesota 



Allolobophora sp. has been cultured through an adaptation of an old 

 fisherman's trick. Worms collected in the fall were placed in a mixture 

 of black soil and leaf mold in a covered, galvanized iron can, such as a 

 garbage can. Through the winter, the contents of the can were kept 



