ANABIOSIS OF THE EARTHWORM 65 



After the exsiccation was finished the worms were placed at 

 once on moistened filter-paper. The revivification went on in 

 different ways. 



Worm no. 1 was dried slowly and with an interruption (from 

 8 VIII 20h to 9 VIII llh I kept it outside of the desiccator 

 placing the glass dish directly under a glass bell) ; it was complete- 

 ly motionless after the drying, but its body was smooth, elastic, 

 and without crust-like skin. Placed on moistened filter-paper 

 on 9 VIII 19h 40', it had revived completely by the next morning, 

 had a normal appearance, and displayed very energetic move- 

 ments. Its weight was 1.3067 grams — nearly the same as before 

 the exsiccation. Placed on earth, it dug itself in at once. On 

 11 VIII llh it was placed once more on filter-paper, and after 

 some hours I noticed that several of its posterior segments 

 (15 to 20) were twisting themselves away from the body and were 

 lost; certainly, they had suffered from the drying. Nevertheless, 

 the worm was alive, and 12 VIII I used it for the second time for 

 the experiments of exsiccation (cf. series VII). 



Nos. 2 and 5 were overdried, and placed on moistened filter- 

 paper became only swollen. No. 5 showed some signs of life in 

 the caudal end of the body, but died also. 



Worm no. 3 retained the cylindrical form of its body and was 

 smooth. Its body was elastic, dark brown, and covered with a 

 hard skin. Placed on moistened filter-paper 8 VIII 16h it became 

 after 40' swollen, and exhibited slow contractions when touched 

 with the forceps. At 18h 30' its body displayed spontaneous 

 contractions, but at 19h 30^ I noticed that the middle part of the 

 body had become necrotic — the blood was flowing and staining 

 the filter-paper red. Next morning (9 VIII llh) the upper 

 part of the body moved energetically, but the caudal end died 

 and showed blood effusion. 



Worm no. 4 after drying was in its proximal part dark, and was 

 covered with a crust-like skin; its caudal end was not so dark and 

 more elastic. Placed on moistened filter-paper on 8 VIII 14h 

 it exhibited at 15h 30' some slow contractions in the caudal end. 

 At 16h the contractions were noted also in the proximal end. 

 At 18h 30' the caudal end contracted energetically, the proximal 



THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGT, VOL. 27, NO. 1 



