EAETHWOEM 123 



flower-pots should stand in a cool, light place, as in a 

 cellar window, and should be watered sufiSciently to 

 keep the soil damp, but not saturated. From time to 

 time small pieces of cabbage and of lettuce-leaves may- 

 be placed upon the sod for the worms to feed upon. 

 Other material needed includes a dissecting-pan, fifty 

 per cent, alcohol, hand-lens, fine forceps, fine scissors, 

 magenta, acetic acid carmine, muriatic (hydrochloric) 

 acid, a rough, unplaned board, a sheet of sand-paper, 

 pipette, and compound microscope. 



Method of Examination. — Living worms may be 

 placed on a dissecting-tray or in a dissecting-pan for 

 examination, and their bodies must be moistened with 

 water from time to time. To study its method of bur- 

 rowing, place the worm on the surface of moistened and 

 fairly compact soil in a flower-pot. The course of the 

 burrow may afterwards be traced by carefully picking 

 away the soil, beginning at the opening. 



Preserved specimens are best for the study of the 

 morphology of the animal, and should be examined in 

 a dissecting-pan containing enough flfty per cent, alco- 

 hol to cover the body of the worm. If the preserved 

 specimens are too rigid when flrst taken out of the 

 alcohol, they may be soaked in water for an hour or 

 so until flexible. 



MOEPHOLOGT 



External Characters, 

 a. General shape. ■ — What is it ? Does it vary in dif- 

 ferent parts of the body ? Can you distinguish 

 an anterior and a posterior end? How? Is there 

 a "head"? Can you distinguish a dorsal and 

 a ventral surface? How? A right and a left 



