CHAPTER XXII 



OBSERVATIONS ON EARTHWORMS 



IT is to be regretted that notwithstanding the publication, more than 

 twenty years ago, of Darwin's beautiful researches on earthworms,* 

 these creatures have hardly yet received the attention they deserve 

 at the hands of naturalists. Every student of Elementary Biology 

 has to dissect an earthworm and study its structure, yet how few of 

 those who do so, know anything of its habits or otherwise think of it 

 except as laid out in a dissecting dish. This indifference to the 

 living animal as compared with the dead, is the result of causes 

 which we are not disposed to discuss, but none the less is it to be 

 regretted. The reaction in favour of the closer inquiry into animal 

 life and habits hitherto ignored by some zoologists, which now seems 

 to be beginning in many quarters, is all the more welcome. We 

 make no apology for again emphasising the view that accurate 

 knowlege of the structure of the organic world must go hand in 

 hand with the study of living animals and plants, if a true education 

 is to be gained thereby. 



The study of earthworms may be carried on with both free and 

 captive specimens. First let it be noted that common as these 

 creatures are in cultivated and pastured lands, there are many places, 

 such as sandy heaths, where they are very seldom, if ever, found. 

 The actual cause of this is probably connected with the lack of 

 moisture and suitable food in the shape of fine humus, but the reason 



* " Vegetable Mould and Earthworms." John Murray & Co. (1881), 9s. 



