APPENDIX. 325 



behind are two impressed lines or furrows, either separate or con- 

 nected by a cross bar so as to resemble the letter H. Clitellus 

 smooth, glistening, yellowish-brown, of six equal segments ; and on 

 each side there is a thickened ridge, either limited to the clitellar 

 rings or continued up on the rings nearly to the genital pores. Anal 

 segment small, reddish, with tumid lips to the aperture. The geni- 

 tal pores are on the fifteenth ring, excluding the head in the enume- 

 ration. There are two similar pores on the twenty-sixth or twenty- 

 seventh segment. The ventral bristles ar^ black on the anterior seg- 

 ment ; the other bristles are colourless or straw-yellow, stout, curved 

 at the distal end, and rather bluntly pointed. 



The surface is smooth and glistening, and reflects a beautiful blue 

 iridescence, especially from the back. This iridescence is in some 

 specimens very marked, in others it is less notable, — differences 

 arising both from the condition of the worm itself, and from the 

 nature of the soil in which it has been burrowing. The furrows 

 behind the head are drawn from the one margin of the segment to 

 the other, and the furrows are often connected by a cross line. The 

 rings are divided into two halves by a faint line ; and the bristles 

 form two parallel series on each side. In one individual I counted 

 28 rings anterior to the clitellus, in another 30, and in another very 

 large one 32. Ray says that there are 30 or 32. Otho Fabricius 

 says that in his specimen there were 31, 6 in the clitellus, and 106 

 behind it— in all 143. 



Miiller, in three individuals, found the numbers to be : 



Segments anterior to the clitellus 26 28 31 



Segments in the clitellus 6 6 



Segments posterior to the clitellus 100 99 80 



Rings of the entire body 126 133 117 



The description of this species by Ray is excellent. 



This is our earthworm or dew- worm, the latter name bestowed 

 from the animal coming forth from its concealment in the *' dew-o'- 

 the-morn," and before the sun has dried up the moisture of the 

 ground. It lives in the soil of gardens, meadows, and pastures ; 

 frequents roads and pathways ; and lurks, in crowds, under the 

 pavement of the busy streets, gaining a difficult access to the surface 

 through the chinks between the flags*. It cannot live either in 

 pure sand or clay, nor in an over-wet soil, nor in peat. In pastures 

 — new or old — it is often found under stones, lying in smooth runs 

 which it has made for easy escape ; for, on being disturbed, it re- 

 treats with sudden and stealthy quickness, and seems to be always 

 on the alert. It will permit the body to be torn in pieces rather 



* " Their favourite residence is a recent vegetable mould-heap, the under side 

 of a flat stone in damp situations, and the earth immediately below half-dried 

 covv'-dung, — whence one of its provincial names, the Cow-dung worm." — Dr. G. 

 Douglas. — " Quae ratio est, quod non omnem terram, hoc est, tenuem, sterilem, 

 arenosam, et lapidosam, sed tantum glareosam, pinguem, et argillosam, ac 

 humidam amat. Unde Anglia plurimos aiit Lumbricos, quod sit regio.humidia-* 

 sima." — Aldrovandus, De Insect, lib. vi. p. 693. 



