THE EAB.THWOKM. 17 



LETTER III. 



MODE OF BBPEODUCTION EST THE EABTHWOEM. — ITS HABITS. 



— DVELLING. USES DST THE FOEMATION OF THE SITEFACE- 



SOIL. — CONCLUSION. 



In our last letter we reviewed cursorily the chief por- 

 tions of the Worm's anatomy, and m.ust now devote 

 a short space to the consideration of its organs and 

 mode of reproduction. 



The worm, in common with many others of the 

 humbler animals, is remarkably endowed ia this 

 respect, each creature possessing within itself both 

 the male and female organs of reproduction. These 

 strongly resemble each other in appearance, for both 

 consist of a series of what physiologists term " tubuli," 

 or little tubes, one set of which serves for maturing 

 the female ova, and the other for the development of 

 the male spermatozoa, little motile fructifyiug bodies 

 visible only under the microscope. 



At certain seasons of the year, when the ova are 

 ripe, and ready for fecundation, a number of the 

 rings, usually from four to eight (PI. II. fig. 2), 

 situated at about the anterior third of the body, be- 

 come enlarged, and this swelling, which you will 



