100 



WORMS. 



England. They are all easily distinguished from every other 

 genus by the spine at the extremity of the thorax, a character 

 which scarcely any other animal possesses. The larvae live 

 in decayed trunks of trees, and in hillocks of old-raised earths. 

 The colour is yellow, with the head brown, and the extremities 

 of the jaws black ; the body constituted of twelve joints, shin- 

 ing, and hard-skinned ; a few hairs appear over the body ; 

 under the first three joints are six horny and pointed feet; and 

 at the beginning of the last joint, which is round, there are 

 two black spots, one on each side, which are probably the 

 apertures through which it breathes. 



The wireworm is a most mischievous animal in different 

 sorts of grain crops. It is very plentiful in old grass lands of 

 inferior quality, and infests the crops for many years after the 

 land is put under arable cultivation. They begin to work in 

 March, and continue for about two months, during which 

 time they heave and raise the soil by their under-ground 

 movement, and cut the stems of the growing plants. The 

 ravages are very often quite frightful on oats and wheat. 

 Barley is later in being sown, and is not so much exposed to 

 their attacks. They cease working after the stems become 

 too strong to be gnawed and devoured. The animal is ex- 

 tremely tenacious of life, and not easily destroyed. Quick- 

 lime has been used ; but experience has shown that the worm 

 not only lives but thrives when laid among quicklime alone. 

 Continued heavy rolling of the land serves to check their 

 progress ; but no thorough remedy has yet been found. The 

 animal flies from wetness, and always retires to the top of 

 the ridges where the land is dry. Where the land is flat, 

 and where water stagnates, the animals may be drowned 

 in winter, by laying the land in a level form over winter. 

 Wetting and puddhng of the earth most eflectually banishes 

 them. But few situations will admit this remedy owing to 

 the natural formation. 



2. The Snail is the Limax" of helminthology ; the slug 

 or naked snail, a genus of the order " Mollusca," or gela- 

 tinous worms. 



