W O R 
W O R 
feet; but it is furnifhed with a mouth, and an 
alimentary canal, running along to the very ex- 
♦ tremity of the tail. However, in feme Worms, 
particularly fuch as are found in the bodies of 
animals, this canal opens towards the m.iddle of 
the belly, at fome diftance from the tail. 
The inteftines of the Earth-worm are always 
found replete with a very fine earth, which feems 
to be the only nourilhment it is capable of re- 
ceiving. 
No part refembling a brain has ever been dif- 
covercd in this animal; but near the head is 
placed the heart, which is feen to beat with a 
very diftind: motion ; and round it lie the fper-' 
'"matic vefTels, forming a number of little globules, 
coiuaining a milky fluid: thefe have an opening 
into the belly, not far from the head; and are 
often found replete with eggs, which being laid 
in the earth, are hatched, in twelve or fourteen 
days, by the genial warmth of their fituation. 
Ijike fnails, all thefe animals unite in them- 
felves both fexes at once, impregnating and being 
impregnated in their turn., 
During v/inter. Worms bury themfelves deeper 
in tlie earth ; and appear in fome meafure to par- 
ticipate of the native torpidity of the infedt tribe: 
bur in fpiing they revive with the reft of nature, 
and jjurfue tiie univerfal purpofe of propagating 
their kind. 
The moft extraordinary circumftance attending 
Worms is, that they continue to live in feparate 
parts ; and that one animal, by the means of 
cutting, is divided into as many exiftences as 
fancy may propofe. Each feflion gradually ac- 
quires what is wanting to complete the infefl; 
and in a few months the minute parts of the 
original creature attain the full fize and propor- 
tion, together with all the powers and appetites 
of the kind. Thus one of the moft contemptible 
of lives is the moft' difficult to deftroy ; and, in 
proportion to the dangers to which the tribe is 
expofed, Providence feems to have allotted it -qua- 
lities for it's prefervation. 
Worms are very prejudicial to corn-fields, eat- 
ing up the roots of the plant, and occafioning the 
failure of a confiderable part of the crop. 
One of the moft efficacious things in 'nature for 
their deftru(5lion, is fea-falt: they are like wife ex- 
tirpated by foot, or by a mixture of chalk and 
lime; but thefe methods are not wholly to be 
relied on. 
If they become very troublefome and mifchie- 
vous in gardens, the rcfufe brine of faked meat, 
or fome walnut-leaves fteeped in a ciftern of water 
for about a fortnight, v/ill help to deftroy them ; 
or a decoflion of wood-alhes, fprinkled on the 
ground, v/ill anfwer the fame purpofe. 
WORMS ; Lumbrici, or Vermes. In a medi- 
cal fenfe, a difeafe originating from fome of thefe. 
reptiles being generated in the body, from which 
the moft alarming fymptoms fometimes proceed, ' 
Vallifnieri has proved, that Worms in the hu- 
man bov/els are not produced from the eggs of 
reptiles fwallowed down with our food or drink, 
but that they a6lually propagate their kind within 
us. Elowever, though this may be the cafe with 
refpe6t to their propagation, it feems moft pro- 
bable that the parents were originally conveyed 
into the inteftines by the common vehicles of 
aliments; and that particular forts of food ailing 
in conjundion with conftitutional prcdifpofitions, 
may confiderably encreafe or leffen the danger. 
There are three fpecies of Worms moft ufually 
found in the human body : the terctes, or round 
and thick, commonly bred in the fmall guts, and 
fometimes in the ftomach ; the latus, or fiat, 
called alfo the taenia, generally bred either in the 
fmall inteftines or in the ftomach; and the afca- 
rides, or round and fmall Worms, generally found 
in the recflum. 
But though the inteftines are the ordinary refi- 
dence of Worms, there is fcarcely any' part of th6 
human body which they do not occafionally in- 
feft : for, befides the vermes inteftales already 
enumerated, we fometimefs hear of the dentales, 
gingivales, pulmonarii, cardiaci, fanguinearii, 
cutanei, umbilicales, hepatici, falivales, &c. 
So numerous indeed are the varieties of Worms 
which infeft different parts of the body, that it is 
almoft impoffible to particularize them all: and, 
as for the modes of cure which phyficians have 
prefcribed, they more properly belong to medi- 
cine than natural hiftory ; for which reafon we 
fhall leave them to the proper profeflbrs. 
.WORM ASCARIS. A genus of the ord^r 
of inteftina, and clafs of vermes, in the Linnsan 
fyftem ; the diftinguifhing characters of which 
are, that the body is round and filiform, and 
attenuated towards both extremities. There arc 
two fpecies. 
WORM BUTTERFLY. An appellation 
fometimes given tb the butterfly when in the 
aurelia and caterpillar ftate. See AuRtLiA and 
Caterpillar. 
WORM, CANKER. The common Englifh 
name for the fcarabsus of beetle. See Beetle 
and ScARAB^us. 
WORM, COCHINEAL, An appellation by 
which fome authors exprefs that valuable infefli: 
the cochineal fly. See Cochineal. 
WORM, EARTH. See Worms, and Earth- 
V/ORM. 
Vv''ORM, FLY. The worm or maggot pro- 
duced from the egg of a fly deftined to be tranf- 
formed into the fame fhape with it's parent, and 
correfponding with flies in the fame manner as the 
caterpillar does with butterflies. 
Fly-worms differ very eflTentially from each 
other in fornj and figure, and therefore may be 
arranged into feveral claflTes. 
The moft obvious and "reiTiarkable differences 
between the claffes of thefe creatures are fuch as 
arife from the conformation and fhape of their 
heads. Many of them have heads which are with 
difficulty diftinguifhed as fuch; and many of 
them have variable heads, which alter in length, 
breadth, thickrhefsi. and figure, at the pleafure of 
the inled:. There are alfo others whofe heads are 
hard, and retain the fime uniform and' regular 
fiiape. 
The firft general arrangement of fhefe Worms 
may be into thofe which have variable, and fuch 
as have invariable heads. 
The fubordihate diftinftion^-' may be deduced 
from the number, difpofit'ion, ftrudure,' and form 
of the other parts; Some Wonhs of "this kind are 
without legs; thofe of others are membranous, or 
fcaly; and others have them both membranous, 
and fcaly. Some Worms .poffefs the pov/er of 
changing the figure of their bodies at plea'fure ; 
the bodies of othh-'s are rigid, and incapable of 
any alteration. Others-, again, have a thin mem- 
branous coat; while others 'have a firm and fcaly, 
or cruftaceous covering. And farther, confider- 
able 
