240 BRITISH ANNELIDS. 



Studied in order to understand the position and appearance of this 

 important organ. 



The girdle, which has been variously called the " clitellum," 

 " cingulum," or " knob," is that swollen portion of the body, usually 

 of a lighter colour, which one observes in adult worms, and which 

 when I was a boy in Sussex was declared by the country folk tc 

 represent the place where two portions of a worm had joined up 

 after having been bisected under the gardener's spade ! It is usually 

 saddle shaped in our native species, and in the channel which it 

 forms on the under surface of the body we may find a series of pores, 

 and at times a number of beautiful trumpet-shaped bodies which are 

 known as spermatophores, and play an important part in the repro- 

 duction of the species. I have found the Greenworm the best species 

 for many of these researches, and as it is to be obtained under stones 

 wherever cattle are kept, or by the side of stagnant water, it will be 

 a convenient subject for the beginner to practise upon. 



It is a good plan to have a note-book in which to make entries on 

 the following plan : — 



" Species taken at Romford, January, 1892. 



" I. A specimen found by the side of a pond where cattle come 

 to water, lying under the stones in a coil, and appearing very sluggish. 

 Dirty green colour with a yellowish girdle about the middle of the 

 body. Length about two inches. The lip only partially bisecting 

 the first ring. Male pores on segment fifteen with prominent, pale 

 papillae. Girdle commencing on segment twenty-eight, and extending 

 to the thirty-sixth, with three pairs of pores on the under side on seg- 

 ments 31, ;^^ and 35. Tail curled up, cylindrical or round, tapering 

 off rather abruptly." 



"2. A small worm from the roots of grass by the side of the stream. 

 Dull brown, with lighter girdle and square tail. Only an inch long, 

 and unlike the last, very active ; chiefly moving tail foremost. Lip 

 partly cutting the peristomium, male pore on segment 13, and girdle 

 extending from the 22nd to the 27th." 



These will be the Greenworm and the Square-tail {Alhirus) 

 respectively, and all the others should be w'orked up on the same 

 principle. 



It remains for me now to describe in successive issues of the 

 Essex Naturalist the species of Earthworm which I have already 

 received from Essex, with such others as shall by the courtesy of the 

 reader be submitted to me for identification and registration. I shall 



