A STUDY OP METAMERISM. 457 



In several instances in the preceding tables records are 

 found of worms that, in addition to the formation of new 

 segments^ completed parts of segments accidentally cut off in 

 the operation. The following records are of worms in which 

 purposely very oblique amputation had been made. 



Table XIII. 



Anterior segments obliquely amputated, 3/4, '94. 

 Killed, 4/28, '94. 



The last table shows very clearly that the power to com- 

 plete segments that have in part been removed is much 

 greater in the earthworm than the power to regenerate whole 

 segments. In the table we find as many as twelve segments 

 completed, and in a comparatively short time. Such 

 a number of segments is never or rarely regenerated when the 

 anterior segments are cut squarely off. 



The latter records of this same table shoTV^ that when ante- 

 rior segments are entirely cut off, in addition to those cut 

 obliquely, that we have both a regeneration of those lost 

 (within a limit) and a rebuilding of those injured. Moreover, 

 although the results are too few to speak with entire confidence, 

 it would seem that the presence of segments completing them- 

 selves does not interfere with the formation of the full comple- 

 ment of new regenerated segments. 



These facts, it seems to me, throw an interesting light on 

 the problem of regeneration. They are too Cew to warrant at 

 present any speculation. It is my intention to make a fuller 

 and more accurate study of these phenomena. 



The obliquity of the cut was lateral in most cases^ in a few 



