WORMS. 



hj the aaimal, aud eafily bent and turned about in any 

 diredioii. The beads of theie creatures are compofed of a 

 Tcry foft and flexible fleffi. 



There are others whofe heads are hard, and which always 

 retain the fame regular figure. The firft general arrange- 

 ment of thefe worms may be into thofe which have a varia- 

 ble, and thofe which have an invariable head. The fubor- 

 dinate diftinftions may be deduced from the number, dif- 

 pofition, ftrufture, and form of the other parts. Some 

 worms of this kind have no legs ; thofe of others are mem- 

 branous or fcaly ; and others have them both membranous 

 and fcaly. Some worms have the power of altering the 

 figures of their bodies at pleafure, both as to length and 

 bulk : the bodies of others are rigid, and incapable of thefe 

 changes. Some, again, have a thin membranous coat ; 

 whereas that of others is firm and fcaly, or cruftaceous. 

 Moreover, confiderable differences are obfervable with regard 

 to the pofuion, number, and figure, of their organs of 

 refpiration. 



Among the fly -worms of variable heads, the difpofition 

 of the iligmata, or air-holes, at which the tracheae of thefe 

 animals terminate, vn\l afford feveral diilinftions of genera : 

 e. gr. the worms of the common flefli-fly has in its ftigmata 

 fix apertures, three in each, refembling button-holes ; but 

 the worms of many other flies have only one fmall eminence 

 m each : others have them cylindric and hollow, and pro- 

 je^ing like horns, of which fome have two, and others three, 

 differently fituated and difpofed. The number and figure 

 of the hooks, which ferve thefe creatures for teeth, may 

 alfo ferve for matter of diftinftion. The common worm of 

 the flelh-fly has two hooks, with a dart between them ; 

 others have hooks without a dart ; fome have one hook, and 

 others none. The figure of the body, and the differences of 

 fize and colour, may furnilh farther diftinftions with regard 

 to the genera of the firft clafs. 



Thofe of the fecond clafs, which have variable heads, and 

 difl'er from the former in having legs like thofe of the 

 caterpillar clafs, have often a fort of hooks fattened to 

 them : they have alfo a long flefhy tail, capable of being 

 lengthened or contrafted at pleafure, and refembling the 

 tail of a rat ; whence thefe are called rat-tailed •worms. In 

 thefe worms, the tail is the principal organ of refpiration ; 

 its end being always open, and fupplying the office of the 

 ftigmata of the other genera. 



The fly-worms of the third clafs, which have invariable 

 heads, and have nothing analogous to the organization of 

 moveable jaws, have pointed heads, or fuch as feem trun- 

 cated, and no fcaly legs : thefe form a very numerous 

 family both in the terreftrial and aquatic kingdom, and all 

 of them furnifh two-winged flies. Under this clafs Reaumur 

 enumerates and defcribes eight genera. This ingenious 

 writer mentions worms of another clafs, which ufually pro- 

 duce four-winged flies, having heads of an invariable tigure, 

 and two teeth or moveable jaws near the aperture of the 

 mouth, without ftaly legs, and with the ftigmata placed on 

 the fides of their bodies. The flies produced from thefe 

 are, the bees, wafps, ichneumons, gall-flies, &c. There is 

 another clafs of the hexapode, or fix-legged worms, which 

 are transformed into fome fpecies of the hbellse ; which have 

 no mouth, but two openings at the top of their antennas, 

 through which their aliment may pafs. The formica leo, 

 and the puceron eaters, belong to this clafs. There is 

 another clafs, which have bodies like thofe of the caterpillar 

 clafs, and fix legs, befides two other Ihorter legs or hooks 

 uear their hinder part, which ferve for motion and for fixing 

 themfelves. The water-worms, which make for themfelves 

 cafes of different materials, and are transformed into papi- 



lionaceous flies, are of this clafs. There is alfo a clafs of 

 worms, called falfe or baftard caterpillars. See Fausse 

 Chenille. See the more particular defcription of thefe 

 clafTes, and their fubordinate genera, in Reaumur's Hift. 

 Inf. torn. iv. p. l6i, &c. 



WoH^f, Gourd, the name of a fpecies of Unia, or tape- 

 worm ; the body of which is of an oblong form, flat on the 

 belly, and rounded on the back ; its fkin is foft, and its 

 mouth large, honzontal, and emarginated, or dented in the 

 middle. It refembles the common gourd in figure, and 

 from thence has got this name of vermis cucurbitinus, or the 

 gourd-worm. It is frequently found in the inteftincs of 

 animals. 



Worm, Golden. See Aphrodita. 

 Worm, Guinea, or Hair-WoRM. See Ch^tia, Am- 

 PHiSB^NA, and Dracunculi. 



Worm, Golly, Gloiv, Gnat, Goofeberry, Hay, Horfe, Ly- 

 Jlmachia, Mujhroom, Oyjler, Pile, Sheep-nofe, Silk, Solitary, 

 and Truffle. See the refpeftive articles. 



Worms, Meal. There are two very different infe£l8 

 found in our meal or flour ; the one is fo fmall, that it is 

 only to be feen by the microfcope ; all that the naked eye 

 can difcover of it is, that fomething is alive in the place, 

 from the whole fubftance of the flour being in motion. See 

 Flour. 



The other meal-worm is larger, and more frequently 

 ofi"ers itfelf to our obfervation : it conCfts of eleven rings, 

 and has three pair of legs. The mouth of this worm is 

 made into a kind of forceps, and from this arife, on each 

 fide, a great number of fmall fpinulse ; thefe ferve inftead 

 of teeth, and the animal feeds by means of them. They 

 are found fometimes very foft and tender, fometimes hard 

 and firm ; at fome feafons they are very brilk and lively, at 

 others they have fcarce any hfe in them. 



The moft remarkable thing in regard to thefe worms is, 

 that they are always exaftly of the colour of the flour which 

 they hve among. Ray has obferved, that the white flour 

 breeds white ones ; the coarfer flour breeds larger and greyer 

 ones ; and that flour which has the bran among it, breeds 

 brown ones of the fame colour with that of itfelf. This is 

 a provifion of nature for the fafety of the animal, fince were 

 it of a colour different from that of the flour, it muft be 

 eafily difcovered among it, and would be picked out and 

 thrown away. The caterpillar tribe are thus preferved, by 

 being of the colour of the leaves they feed on ; their green 

 ufually fuiting itfelf exaftly to that of the tree or plant. 

 Deflandes, Trait. Phyf. 



Worms of the Sea. The fea-worms are of the number 

 of thofe animals which, with the oyfter and feveral other 

 fhell-fifh, furnifh us an inftance of animals which remain all 

 their lives fixed in the manner of plants to one fpot, whence 

 there is no probability of their moving themfelves. 



Thefe worms are included in a fort of cafes or pipes, and 

 may be divided into two clafTes, according to the nature of 

 thofe cafes. In the one fpecies thefe only are made of 

 grains of fand, fragments of ftiells, and the hke, fattened 

 together by a vifcous humour ; and in the other they are 

 compofed of a true fhelly matter. 



Thofe worms which have fhelly cafes are fixed fometimes 

 to the fand at the bottom of the fea, fometimes to ftones, 

 or fea fubftances, and fometimes to the fhells of other fifties ; 

 their fhells are rounded, and, in fome degree, conic, as they 

 always gradually grow wider from their point or apex to 

 the mouth ; as to the reft, their fhape is diflFerent in almoft 

 every individual, forming divers irregular curves, and often 

 refembling the fliapes into which a common earth-worm 

 curls and twills itfelf in its various motions. 



10 When 



