POL YPI— WORMS. 44 7 



Attached to our water weeds, we have that very beautiful and 

 interesting species of the Rotatoria, the Melicerta ringens (fig. 991). 

 Specimens from my garden have been the subject of a very interesting 

 paper by Dr. Moxon, read before the Linnaean Society. It builds a 

 case for itself with little bricks of particles of mud. It is a choice 

 subject for the microscope, and may be watched with interest for hours. 

 It can be easily kept in a bottle with a piece of water weed, such as 

 the water ranunculus. Microscopists amuse themselves by giving it 

 particles of different bright colours with which to construct its house 

 and by this plan they obtain a case of many colours. 



POLYPI. 



No more interesting creatures dwell in my garden than the Polyps, 

 of which we have two or three species, among them the Hydra viridis, 

 M. communis (fig. 992), and H. fusca. The 

 tentacles of these creatures appear to have 

 some stinging or poisonous properties, as when 

 they touch an animalcule it becomes paralysed. 

 Formerly they were thought to be simply bags, 

 into which their prey was thrust and then 

 digested. Now the researches of modern zoolo- ^"'- '''„-a"j„^ed.'°""""""' 

 gists have shown that polyps have a higher organization, and Dr. A. 

 Farre's papers read before the Royal Society have contributed to our 

 knowledge of these interesting creatures. 



WORMS. 



There are several kinds of worms in my garden, and their quantity 

 appears to have visibly increased with the cultivation of the soil. The 

 Earth-worm, Lob-worm, or Dew-worm {Lumbricus terrestris) is found, 

 but not in such quantities as in the valley of the Thames, where gallons 

 are collected after rain as bait for barbel. This worm burrows many 

 feet under ground. It appears to eat vegetable mould, but during 

 the winter it drags leaves into its holes — for what purpose it is not 

 easy to tell. 



