94 EARTH-WORMS, CONSIDERED 



then passed under the general term of blight. The scientific study of insects 

 had then made little or no progress in this country ; and it does not appear 

 to have been then known that birds, though injurious to gardens to a limited 

 extent, are yet on the whole, by living in great part on insects, slugs, worms, 

 &c., the gardener's best friends. Neither docs the use of certain reptiles, 

 such as the frog and toad, and even of quadrupeds, such as the weazel, appear 

 to have been understood in gardens by the gnrdeners of the past generation. 

 In the present day, however, this branch of garden management, like every 

 other, has been subjected to scientific inquiry, and the object of this chapter 

 is to generalize the results ; leaving details relative to particular species of 

 garden vermin till we come to treat of the plants by which they are chiefly 

 affected. The order which we shall follow will be that of worms, slugs, 

 snails, insects, reptiles, birds, and quadrupeds. 



SECT. I. The Earth-Worm, considered with Reference to Horticulture. 



290. Lumbricus terrestris, L., the common earth-worm, has a body 

 composed of numerous narrow rings, of a reddish colour, and shining from 

 a viscous substance, which forms a sort of protecting sheath to its body, 

 and facilitates its progress through the soil. It is without eyes ; and its 

 blood is aerated by means of a series of small vesicles along its sides, which 

 open externally by very minute pores. The mouth consists of two lips, the 

 upper one of which is elongated somewhat like a proboscis, and therefore 

 admirably fitted for boring through the soil. " The oesophagus or gullet 

 is a wide membranous canal, continued straight down for half an inch, and 

 ending in a dilated bag or reservoir, to which succeeds a muscular stomach 

 or gizzard, disposed in the form of a ring. The intestine is constructed at 

 each segment of the animal by a series of ligaments or partitions, connecting 

 it to the parietes of the body, and swells out the intermedial spaces when 

 distended by the particles of earth." The nervous system consists of a 

 series of small ganglions close to each other. Worms are oviparous ; though, 

 under certain circumstances, they are supposed to hatch their eggs internally. 

 The eggs are white, round, rather larger than white mustard -seed, pellucid, 

 and laid in clusters of a dozen or more together. The accouplement of worms 

 takes place in spring during the night, or shortly after rain, and always out 

 of the soil. " Earth-worms creep at a good pace by means of muscular 

 contraction and dilation, acting on the rings, which carry on their under-sides 

 certain bristle- like processes ; these last operate as feet. The power of 

 elongation is considerable, and the anterior part of the animal acts as a sort 

 of awl in penetrating the earth/' {Penny Cyc. art. Lumbricus.') 



291. The habits of the earth-worm appear to have been very imperfectly 

 understood by naturalists. They are always most abundant in moist rich 

 soil, and they are found more or less in every country in the world. During 

 the severe weather of winter they descend deep into the soil, so as to be out 

 of the reach of frost ; and during summer and very dry weather at other 

 seasons they also withdraw to a considerable depth, appearing on the surface 

 after rain, and more especially during the night. The food of worms is 

 evidently the vegetable matter contained in the soil, and they reject the 

 soil from which they have abstracted the nourishing part in the form of casts. 

 It does not appear that they devour any part of the plants ; though they 

 lacerate the fibrous roots by passing and repassing through them in search 



