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HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



CURIOSITIES OF WORM-LIFE. 



By the Rev. Hilderic FRiENto, F.L.S., Author 

 of "Flowers and Flower Lore," etc. 



EVERY naturalist is aware of the fact that there 

 is scarcely a plant or animal in existence which 

 is not liable to some peculiarity or other. Among 

 the highest animals we have dwarfs and Siamese 

 twins, not to mention other deformities ; while 

 chicks and calves seem especially fond of appearing 

 with two heads or a pair of caudal appendages. 

 Worms are no exception to the rule ; but so far as I 

 am aware no popular account has ever yet been given 

 of these freaks of worm-life as a whole, such as we 



brought from the Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, 

 which leads me to infer that there is yet a good deal 

 to be learned about the influence of habitat, soil, 

 climate, height above sea-level, and other factors, 

 upon the development of worms. This tendency of 

 the girdle to occupy the centre of the worm's body is 

 quite unlike that which we find in the green worm 

 (Allolobophora chloroltca),-¥ig. 63 . 1, where the numbev 

 of segments behind the girdle is usually double that 

 in front. Owing, however, to the hinder segments 

 having a much narrower diameter longitudinally than 

 those in front of the girdle, the girdle here falls nearly 

 in the centre of the body. 



A very striking peculiarity has often presented itself 

 in the study of the brandling {Allolobophora foztidd), 



el. 



mp z 



. ¥ r m 



taiiaaiii' 



Fig. 63.— 1, Green Worm {Allolobophora chlorolua) with girdle {cl) normally near centre of body; 2, abnormal worm with tail 

 shortened; 3, Brandling {Allolobophora /(Etida) with male pores {mp) on alternate segments, instead of being normally on 

 segment 15 ; 4, Brandling, showing bands splitting {a) in two ; 5, typical Lumbricus head, pr prostomium, peri peristomium ; 

 6, typical Allolobophora head ; 7, abnormal form of long worm {Allolobophora lo7iga) with double tail. Nos. 3-6 magnified two 

 diameters, the rest natural size. 



have been favoured with in relation to other animals, 

 as well as plants. During my researches into the 

 habits of earth-worms I have had ample means of 

 studying a number of these peculiarities, some of 

 which are now submitted for the benefit of our 

 readers. 



There are several ways in which earth-worms 

 depart from the type. In some instances there is no 

 deformity, but the full-grown worm shows a curious 

 tendency to limit the number of segments. In this 

 way a species which should normally have sixty rings 

 behind the girdle, will have only thirty (Fig. 63.2), so 

 that the girdle comes just in the middle of the body. 

 I have found this tendency in more than one species 



This worm, like the great majority of our native 

 species, has the male pore on the fifteenth segment. 

 If a worm is examined carefully, it will be found that 

 a pair of papillae, or white swellings, occupy the 

 under surface of the fifteenth ring, counting from the 

 head backwards. These swellings carry a pore, and 

 serve as an important character in the diagnosis of 

 genera. We have one small genus in Britain 

 (Allurus) which carries the male pore on segment 13. 

 Now the brandling is the most variable of all our 

 species, and seems to be in a transition state, for it 

 may be found sometimes with pores normally dis- 

 posed, at other times with both pores on segment 

 14, and not infrequently with one pore on the 14th 



