94 VEEMES. 



It is not improbable that sufficient reasons may be found for re- 

 moving some of the animals comprehended in this chapter from the place 

 assigned to them. The subject is extremely obscure. Indeed, nothing 

 can render it more obscure than the presence of equivocal, and the ab- 

 sence of definite characters, whereon alone we can rear a system ; and to 

 this may be added, the want of additional specimens, whereby to solve 

 our doubts. 



From the preceding detail, however, the reader will discover how 

 much remains to be done for reducing the Vermes to some useful arrange- 

 ment ; although I might have augmented the number of animals described, 

 it is unsatisfactory to dwell on what must be very imperfect. Nor do I 

 pretend to more than offer a few materials, to aid the undertaking of 

 systematic naturalists. 



. Herein I feel confidence, that much assistance will be derived from 

 the drawings of the living specimens. 



No part of the flesh of animated beings seems to be exempt from 

 parasite worms of many different kinds, whose presence is generally ex- 

 tremely pernicious ; but it seems doubtful whether any but such larvae as 

 undergo metamorphosis to other stages prey on the dead. 



