308 OBSERVATIONS ON WORMS. 



a fine thread, and measuring from three and a half 

 to six inches in length ; somewhat attenuated an- 

 teriorly, with a slight contraction behind the head, 

 which was oblong and a little truncated. The tail 

 was obtuse, and rather narrower than the body. 

 They were of a whitish, or yellowish-white colour ; 

 transparent at first, according to his account, but 

 rendered nearly opake by the spirit when I saw 

 them. Just at the contraction behind the head 

 was a reddish stain. There were several dark spots 

 and streaks about the middle of the body, and a 

 few nearer the extremities, which under a high 

 magnifier were found to be the ova, apparently 

 quite ripe, and ready for exclusion. These ova 

 were of a deep brown colour, and were very abun- 

 dant and distinct in some individuals. The body 

 was cylindrical and quite smooth in the moist spe- 

 cimens ; but in one, which had been suffered to 

 dry from the living state, the sides of the body, 

 especially about the middle, presented a number 

 of transverse plaits or folds, so as to shew a cre- 

 nated appearance : these, however, disappeared 

 after some hours' immersion in water, when the 

 body resumed its natural appearance. 



These worms undoubtedly belong to the genus 

 Mermis of Dujardin, to whose memoir, giving a 

 detailed account of their structure and organiza- 

 tion, I have referred in a note. They accord 

 exactly with his description, and are in all proba- 

 bility identically the same species, which had been 

 noticed by him and others under circumstances 

 very similar to those above recorded. The only 



