RRITISH ANNELIDS. 1 95 



being very quickly acquired by the rieUl-worker after he has made 

 one or two excursions. 



1. Ciardens and cultivated soil, especially if "fat," will always 

 yield a good supply. The species usually found here has been 

 ahva}"s termed the earthworm ( Lumbriciis terrestris), but we shall 

 find that this old aggregate term needs revision, and the various 

 species, forms and varieties, rearranging. The worms found in these 

 situations vary immensely in colour, size, shape of hinder extremity, 

 and in other particulars, and a good series should be secured. 



2. Lawns, grass plots, pastures, and the paths through the same, 

 are also very productive. In the garden or field digging can be 

 resorted to ; not so very frequently on the lawn. Here, however, 

 other methods can be adopted. Those naturalists who do not retire 

 before midnight can carry a bull's-eye on to the lawn before going 

 to rest, and thus secure a good supply. Others prefer to spread 

 an old carpet on the short sward. Nothing, in any place, succeeds 

 better than this. 1 have taken my heaviest " bags " by the side of 

 a stream where an old piece of sacking has been thrown, while my 

 friends have often told me, when it was too late to benefit by it, 

 what numbers of worms had accumulated under their carpets which 

 had been spread on the grass. The species differ in many cases 

 from those dug from the rich soil. 



3. Manure heaps, lumps of compost, decaying leaves, lawn 

 grass in a state of decay, quitch and rubbish mounds on the borders 

 of fields and occupation roads will abundantly repay a careful 

 examination. Here, especially in very old manure and thoroughly 

 rotten vegetable matter, the brandling will lurk, while the angler's 

 gilt-tail, the red worm, and others will abound. 



4. Next away to the stream or pond, to any spot in fact where 

 water is found, only let clay and iron be absent. Mineral waters do 

 not seem to be required by worms to keep them in health, and clay 

 is not necessary to keep them cool. So far as my experience goes 

 it is useless to look for worms here, unless there be some unusual 

 factor at work to entice them. In every other case the pond, ditch, 

 stream, gutter, will yield a golden harvest. The stones should be 

 overturned, the tufts of grass pulled up by the roots and carefully 

 examined, and the soil and debris dug up to the depth of a foot or 

 so for different species. The curious little square-tail will haunt the 

 grass roots ; the turgid worm, the mucous worm, and the green worm 

 will probably be found under the stones, and frequently fine speci- 

 mens of the ruddy worm will occur as well. 



5. Nor should the woodlands be neglected. Under some species 

 of tree no worms seem to thrive, while under others they multiply 

 amazingly. It is as well to begin by the hedgerow where leaves and 

 vegetable mould have accumulated, then work further in towards the 

 denser parts of the copse or forest. Usually the humid spots are the 

 best ; but I have often found worms some inches under the soil in 



