CHAPTER XXII. 

 OF THE EARTH-WORMS (ANN ELI DM). 



A REVIEWER of Darwin's book, " Vegetable Moulds and 

 Earth- Worms," remarks : " In the eyes of most men the 

 earth-worm is a mere blind, dumb, senseless, and unplea- 

 santly slimy annelid. Mr. Darwin undertakes to rehabili- 

 tate his character, and the earth-worm steps forth at once 

 as an intelligent and beneficent personage, a worker of 

 vast geological changes, a planer-down of mountain-sides, 

 a friend of man, and an ally for the Society for the Pre- 

 servation of Ancient Monuments" ("Life," vol. iii. p. 213). 

 The book itself ("The Formation of Vegetable Mould 

 through the Action of Worms," I vol. octavo) is full of 

 most interesting facts on their habits, food, digestive struc- 

 ture, intelligence, manner of prehension of objects and pro- 

 tection of their burrows, amount of earth brought up by 

 them, &c. 



A short notice of their structure and natural history 

 may be useful to many who are, perhaps, quite unaware 

 that these creatures are so perfectly organised : 



tl The body of a large earth-worm consists of from one 

 hundred to two hundred almost cylindrical rings or seg- 

 ments, each furnished with minute bristles. The muscular 

 system is well developed. Worms can crawl backwards 

 and forwards, and by the aid of their affixed tails can 

 retreat with extraordinary rapidity into their burrows. 

 The mouth is situated at the anterior end of the body, and 

 is provided with a little projection (lobe or lip), which is 

 used for prehension ; and behind the mouth is a strong 

 pharynx which leads to the oesophagus, on each side of 

 which, in the lower part, are three pairs of glands which 



secrete a surprising amount of carbonate of lime; nothing 



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