SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



II 



shall I look for specimens and who will tabulate 

 the results of my gleanings? In what book can I 

 find clear instructions for identifying specimens if 

 I wish to work up my gleanings ? Let me supply 

 answers, and, in the first place, everyone can help 

 by making collections in every conceivable spot. 

 Aquatic worms and their allies are ubiquitous ; 

 from seashore to mountain height there is scarcely 

 a spot where one or other of the species may not be 

 sought. If the collector lives by the seaside he 

 should be especially careful to examine estuarine 

 runnels, dykes or ditches, backwashes, and all 

 places where there is decaying vegetable matter. 

 Here both water-worms and white worms will be 

 found, as well as red worms belonging to the genus 

 Pachydrilus or the related Marionia. Inland, every 

 pond and ditch, stream and lake, gutter and drain, 

 wood and copse may be explored. Under the moss 

 which covers with a rich green garb the rugged 

 sandstone rock will white and yellow worms be 

 found, as well as in the timber and mould formed 

 by the decaying of a tree or of last year's leaves. 

 Among water-weeds which are floating in the lake 

 or pool, at the roots of the weeds growing in old 

 ponds or quarries filled with water, among the 

 mud of horse-ponds and gutters — anywhere, every- 

 where the collector may look. The specimens may 

 for some time evade his observation owing to their 

 minute dimensions and his untrained eye, but in 

 due course he will be rewarded. In the muddy 

 margins of streams and rivers one often finds three 

 or four different species living together. Some 

 kinds are gregarious, others lead a more solitary life. 



If the collector wishes to identify his species 

 he must have access to the " Monograph," by 

 Beddard, a volume which is published at two 

 guineas net. The works of Vejdovsky and others 

 are only accessible to men of means or to those 

 students who have access to a first-class scientific 

 library, such as those connected with the learned 

 societies. For the rest, one may find scattered 

 articles in the various journals and magazines, but 

 as the results have all been tabulated by Beddard 

 up till the end of 1894, and little, if anything, has 

 been done in England since then, the " Monograph " 

 must, for the present, be the principal source of 

 information. 



Seeing that many can collect, but only a few can 

 work out their gleanings for want of a handy, 

 accessible text-book or manual, it will be a 

 convenience if someone will act as referee, and 

 undertake to examine the collections which may be 

 made, and report the results to suitable magazines. 

 I can only speak for myself, but I can assure the 

 reader who may be prepared to help in this good 

 work, that I shall always be ready to do for the 

 aquatic worms what I have already done for the 

 terrestrial species during the past six or seven 

 years. During that time I have raised the number 



of British earth-worms from a doubtful eight or 

 ten to a positive quarter-of-a-hundred species; the 

 collections having reached me from almost every 

 part of the country. 



Nearly all the species may be sent packed lightly 

 in damp moss in tin boxes. They should be in 

 a living condition, as results from specimens in 

 that state are much more satisfactory than those 

 from preserved specimens. If found in grass. 

 leaves, straw or decaying material, they may be 

 sent with the food ; but if they live among earthy 

 matter it often happens that they are battered 

 in transit if the earth is included in the package. 

 Purely aquatic forms may be usually sent in tubes 

 or bottles with water and plants ; but as they often 

 perish quickly if kept too long confined, they 

 should be despatched the same day as the gather- 

 ings are made. Bottles and tubes should be 

 enclosed in tin boxes for greater security, and with 

 each consignment should also be sent a note 

 specifying habitat, date, locality and other par- 

 ticulars of a local nature, calculated to throw light 

 on their mode of life, period of sexual maturity, 

 and other facts of biological interest. For the 

 present, consignments may be made to me at the 

 address given below, and in my next article I will 

 commence a list of species already described as 

 British. I shall, as a rule, acknowledge by post- 

 card any collections which may reach me, but 

 as the work involves a great expenditure of time 

 and money, collectors who wish for special informa- 

 tion will oblige by sending addressed envelopes. 



If Science-Gossip can thus be made the pioneer 

 in this interesting pursuit, its resuscitation will not 

 have been in vain. 



7, Fcni Bank, Cockcrmouth. 



British Collections at Kensington. — We 

 sincerely hope that the rumour is unfounded, which 

 Mr. Henry H. Howarth refers to in " Natural 

 Science." It is to the effect that the special 

 collection of British Animals at the British 

 Museum of Natural History at South Kensington 

 is to be distributed into the general collection. 

 We feel certain that the result would be most 

 disastrous to the encouragement of natural science 

 studies in this country. We know it is a depart- 

 ment which is constantly referred to in an 

 unobtrusive manner by many young naturalists 

 who thus spare the time and patience of the 

 courteous assistants in the students' rooms. Rather 

 let us hope the collection may eventually be 

 increased by making it a completely typical 

 reference collection, where those of the large 

 number of persons who cannot visit the museum 

 on week-days may on Sundays compare their 

 captures and obscure specimens for identification. 

 No such opportunity elsewhere occurs in London. 

 That the general public are intereste<.i in and 

 educated bv the special British collection one may 

 easily find by listening to the surprised and 

 intelligent remarks made by visitors on _ seeing 

 gathered together the animals which occur in their 

 own country. 



