8 WORMS. 



When partially-dried or alcoholic specimens are ex- 

 amined with a lens, two double rows of these short 

 hairs are observed on either side. One of the rows is 

 seen just where the dark red color of the back fades 

 into the lighter tint of the ventral surface, while the 

 other is nearer the median line. Every segment, ex- 

 cepting the first, second, third, fourth, and last, has four 

 pairs of these setse. They are unjointed, and, as a 

 rule, project forwards, so that when the worm is drawn 

 gently through the fingers from the head to the tail, the 

 resistance offered by the stiff hairs is very sensibly felt.* 



The setae extend a short distance into the interior 

 of the body : and here there are muscles which move 

 them forwards and backwards, like a double set of 

 short crutches, when the animal crawls. 



If the ninth, tenth, and eleventh segments of an alco- 

 holic specimen are examined, they are seen to be much 

 larger than the other anterior rings, and to have glandular 

 swellings on their ventral surfaces. Four openings may 

 also he observed between the ninth and tenth, and tenth 

 and eleventh segments: these are in a line with the outer 

 row of seta:, and are the four apertures of the seminal re- 

 ceptacles. On the fourteenth ring, just outside the inner 

 row of seta 1 , are the two minute openings of the oviducts: 

 and on the fifteenth segment the large, slit-like apertures 

 of the seminal ducts may be observed. The earthworm 

 is. therefore, an hermaphrodite, though self-impregnation 



* This is contrary to Huxley, who states that the resistance 

 is felt when the worm is drawn in the opposite direction, or from 

 the tail to the head. After the death of the worm, the seta- may 

 become fixed either way, being directed forwards in some parts 

 of the body, and backwards in others; though, in the specimens 

 examined, by far the greater number projected forwards. 



