SMALL RED DITCH-WORM. 299 



not improbable that some of the minuter worms of 

 this kind, including one which is frequently to be 

 met with in wet moss, and soft decomposing wood 

 that has lain long in wet places, may be the first 

 forms of other species which have been hitherto con- 

 sidered distinct. But as yet we are very much in 

 the dark respecting the modes of propagation and 

 development of these obscure animals, and scarcely 

 know what changes they may pass through before 

 arriving at their full growth : this is especially the 

 case with the Entozoa.* 



SMALL RED DITCH-WORM. 



THERE is a small red worm, about an inch and a 

 half long, not uncommon in this neighbourhood, in 

 ditches, and in the rills which are cut to drain pas- 

 tures, either burrowing in the mud, or conceal- 

 ing itself amongst aquatic plants, particularly the 

 Char a vulgaris, to which it shews much attachment. 

 It has not often been noticed by English naturalists, 

 but it appears to be the species described by Muller 

 under the name of Lumbricus variegatus.^ This worm 

 has often astonished me by its powers of reproduc- 



* Since the above was written, I have seen the important me- 

 moir by Steenstrup, On the Alternation of Generations, an Eng- 

 lish Translation of which forms one of the last publications of the 

 Ray Society. The observations of this author, if correct, throw a 

 new aspect over the whole subject of the origin and first life of the 

 Entozoa, as well of some other of the lower animals. 



* Vermium Historia, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 26. See also The Zoological 

 Journal, vol. iii. p. 326, where it is well described by Dr. Johnston, 

 the only English author who, so far as I am aware, has noticed it. 



