HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



109 



and the other on the 15th segment (Fig. 63.3). Ihave 

 found this latter peculiarity also in the gilt-tail {Alio. 

 subrubicvnda). 



Another remarkable tendency of worms is better 

 observed in this species than in any other, owing to 

 its bright, well-defined colour-band. The brandling, 

 as its name implies, is brindled or streaked with 

 brown and gold, and it is no uncommon thing to see 

 the brown bands bifurcating (Fig. 63 .4), and splitting 

 up, thus giving a very characteristic zebra-like 

 appearance. 



The girdle, or clitellum, of earth-worms is very 

 liable to abnormal development. I found a brandling 

 in Sussex some time ago which was quite a study, on 

 account of its bilateral asymmetry. On the left side 

 the male pore occupied segment 15, and the tubercula 

 segments 28, 29, 30 ; while on the right side the 

 pore was on segment 16, and the tubercula on 29, 

 30, 31. Another worm found at Bolton Woods, in 

 Yorkshire, displayed the girdle bulging out at one 

 side of the body, instead of forming a saddle on its 

 dorsal surface. 



These, and many other little freaks of nature, 

 however, which might be mentioned in connection 

 with the colour, shape, and development of worms, 

 sink into insignificance in presence of the forms now 

 to be described, although the facts are not new. I 

 received early in March a curious specimen of the 

 long worm (Allolobophora longa), a worm which has 

 all along been confused with the common earth-worm 

 (Lumbricus iertesiris, L.). The two may be easily 

 distinguished by the shape of the head or prostomium, 

 the colour of the body, and the position of the girdle. 

 In the earth-worm, which is a true Lumbricus, the 

 prostomium cuts (Fig. 63.5) the first segment entirely 

 in two, the colour is purplish-red with lighter-coloured 

 tail, and the girdle begins on segment 32. The long 

 worm has a prostomium only partially inserted in the 

 first segment (Fig. 63.6) ; it is usually a very dark 

 sienna-brown, and has a girdle extending from 

 segments 28 to 35. 



My specimen of the long worm was found at 

 Hungerford, in Berkshire, and was sent to me by 

 Mr. Winkworth of London. It is a sample of the 

 "double monster," very similar in every respect to 

 several which have been described in various scientific 

 journals within the last few years. I will first of all 

 describe the specimen, then give some details as to 

 earlier specimens. 



The worm is about five inches in length, and would 

 be described by the angler as a maiden dew-worm. 

 It has no girdle, the anterior portion of the body 

 when living was the usual deep sienna, the posterior 

 nearly flesh-coloured. Three-fourths of the body, from 

 the head backwards, are perfectly normal, and consist 

 of no segments. From this point the tail becomes 

 twice the usual size, assumes a somewhat quadrangular 

 shape, and gives off a branch which, like the thickened 

 portion, is a quarter the length of the worm's body. 



The drawing (Fig. 63.7) will make the matter clearer 

 than any mere verbal description. The thickened 

 tail and the branch alike consist of 60 segments. 

 The total number of segments therefore in one axis is 

 170, and this is the average number for the long 

 worm. An exactly similar specimen was described 

 by Mr. Broome in 1888 ("Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. 

 of Glasgow," p. 203), but it is erroneously named the 

 common earth-worm. The worm was about four 

 inches long, and at a distance of three and a quarter 

 inches from the mouth the body divided into two 

 unequal parts, each furnished with an anus. The 

 longer of these two parts lay in the same axis as the 

 rest of the body, while the shorter branch projected 

 from the main trunk. Other specimens are on 

 record as follows : — In the catalogue of the Teratologi- 

 cal specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, published in 1872, is a description of an 

 earth-worm with the posterior third of the body 

 symmetrically double. This specimen was presented 

 to the College in 1810, by W. Clift, Esq. In the 

 "Quart. Journal Mic. Soc," 1867, vol. vii. p. 157, 

 we find a note on a double earth-worm by Mr. 

 Robertson. He calls it Lumbricus terrestris, but in 

 those days every worm bore this title, and it would 

 be interesting to know what species is really intended. 

 It is now in the University Museum, Oxford. In 

 1 87 1, Mr. Breese, as President of the "West Kent 

 Nat. Hist. Soc," made use of this paper and its 

 accompanying illustration, but threw no further light 

 on the subject, so far as one can gather from the 

 abstract of his presidential address. Professor Jeffrey 

 Bell has a notice of two Lumbrici with bifid hinder 

 ends in "Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1885, vol. xvi. p. 

 475. In February, 1891, Mr. Foster exhibited to 

 the " Hull Scientific Club " a specimen of the common 

 earth-worm (query species) " which possessed an 

 appendage appearing like a double tail." 



When I was at the Zoo the other day, Mr. 

 Beddard, our leading authority on worms, showed 

 me a specimen of the long worm in every way like 

 the specimen from Hungerford now in my possession. 



The foregoing exhausts all the references I have at 

 present to this form of monstrosity in British earth- 

 worms'. To attempt an explanation of these peculi- 

 arities here would involve both space and technicalities 

 and I must be content to refer the reader to the 

 articles already named for a discussion of this branch 

 of the subject. 



NOTES ON MANX PLANTS. 



THE flora of the Isle of Man is not numerous in 

 species, nor are there many rare plants to 

 encourage the specimen-hunter. Its isolated position 

 even shuts out some quite plentiful on the other side 

 of its boundary waters. Yet there is no lack of 

 flowers in Man, and some beautiful and interesting 



