776 



ARTICULATA — EARTH WORM. 



body. What are termed eyes in some species, are but ocular points, which 

 are not conceived to give the faculty of sight. The Annelides are either 

 naked, or construct tubes or sheaths for themselves, more or less solid, in 

 which they remain without attachment. These tubes, or sheaths, are in 

 some, membranous or horny, incrusted exteriorly with grains of sand, or 

 fragments of shell, in others solid, calcareous, and homogenous. The greater 

 part of the Annelides are carnivorous, sucking the blood of other animals. 

 They are hermaphrodite, but require mutual impregnation. Cuvier divides 

 the class of Annelides into three orders : — 1. Tubicol^, those in which the 

 bronchise are in the form of tufts, attached to the head or anterior part of the 

 body, and generally inhabiting tubes. 2. Dorsibranchi-e, where the bronchise 

 are toward the middle of the body, or along the sides. 3. Abranchi^, where 

 the bronchiae are not apparent externally. Lamarck, on the other hand, 

 divides the class into three orders, from other considerations, viz. : 



Order I. Sedentari^. — Destitute of antennae, eyes, and jaws, and inhabit- 

 ing tubes. 



Order II. Antennat^. — Head with antennae and eyes, and a protractile 

 proboscis often armed Avith jaws. 



Order III. Apodes. — Destitute of feet or setiferous papillae, and anten- 

 nated head. 



THE EARTH WORMi 



Has a power of contracting or lengthening itself at will. There is a spiral 

 Biuscle, that runs round its whole body, from the head to the tail, somewhat 

 xesembling a wire wound round a walking-cane, which, when slipped oflF, 

 and one end extended and held fast, will bring the other nearer to it; in 

 this manner the earth worm, having shot out or extended its body, takes 

 hold by the slime of the fore part of its body, and so contracts and brings 



' Lumbricus ierrestris, Lin. The order Apodes to which the earth worm belongs, are 

 destitute of feet, without setiferous and retractile papillae ; bronchise, when known, disposed 

 interiorly along the body ; no autenniferous head. 



