THE BUTTON- WORM. HI 



the lob-worm as a bait for salmon are well-known to 

 all frequenters of Tweedside. 



3rd. The third species of earth-worm I bring under the 

 angler's notice, is the BLACK-HEAD, or BUTTON-WORM. 

 This latter is no doubt a local term, confined chiefly to 

 the south of Scotland, but descriptive, in some measure, 

 of the habits and appearance of the animal, whose nature 

 it is, during the summer months, to coil and knot itself 

 up in the form of a ball or old-fashioned button. 

 Under this shape it is found nearly dormant, in light 

 gravelly soils, frequently among rich dry garden mould, 

 but most abundantly among the roots and massed fibres 

 of old meadow grass. Of all the earth-worms, it is the 

 kind best suited for the angler, possessing the very 

 qualifications he most desires, in a trouting worm. Its 

 general length and thickness, the one seldom exceeding 

 six or seven inches, the other that of a small goose quill 

 its colour and natural toughness, and the capability 

 of being improved which these qualities possess, all 

 combine to render it an object of considerable value to 

 the sportsman. One variety of it there is, termed the 

 maiden worm, which possesses the peculiar advantage 

 of being free from what is called the knot a develop- 

 ment well-known to naturalists, as embracing the 

 generative organs of the reptile, and not much relished 

 by anglers on account of its unseemliness and the 

 broken, distorted appearance it gives to the bait. The 

 button-worm is dark-headed, but of a lively red lower 

 down; although frequently, during summer, found in 

 the coiled state, it more generally comes under our 

 notice, as most worms do, possessing its share of life 

 and activity, and may be brought to the surface by any 

 agitating process, such as the rapid stirring of a spade 

 or dibble inserted into the mould it inhabits. This, by 



