SKETCHES OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
457 
side of each segment, except the belt,, all turned backward; three 
pores on each side of the belt, two on the twelfth and two on the four¬ 
teenth segment; living in the ground, and sometimes in the human intes¬ 
tines. In sex they are hermaphrodite, each individual being both male 
and female; hence their wonderful fecundity. They lay a vast number 
of eggs, which, when first in motion, are like small white threads, about 
three lines in length, and attached to the under side of stones, or other 
solid body, on moist turf, or among any green herbage. 
There are several species met with in gardens and elsewhere; the 
largest is the dew-worm, so called from its exposing itself on the surface 
for sexual intercourse while the dew is on the surface, or during soft 
warm rain. The other species are all smaller; one, of a middle size, 
is more slender, tougher, and of duller red colour than the dew-worm, 
and of which fish are particularly fond when presented as a bait. 
Anglers call this the “ bramble-worm,” as best suited for their pur¬ 
pose. The smallest species live in rich moist turf, and are known by 
some of their segments being of a green colour. 
Their abodes in the earth are perpendicular holes, higher or lower, 
in which they remain according to the state of the weather. If moist 
and warm, they keep near the surface ; but if cold or dry, they descend 
to the bottom. It appears that they deepen their holes by swallowing 
the finest parts of the earth, and afterwards voiding it as casts” upon 
the surface. In this action they are plagues to the gardener, by dis* 
figuring his lawns and soiling his gravel walks; but they can easily be 
dislodged from any given spot by soaking the ground with lime-water. 
The dew-worm is mischievous in another way—that is, by drawing to 
the mouth of their holes not only small stones or other light matters, 
but also young seedlings of some of the most precious crops. These 
are the only crimes or misdemeanors which can be laid to the charge of 
earth-worms ; but, after all, it is questionable whether either gardener 
or farmer could do so well without them. If it be an advantage to the 
cultivator of plants to have the ground open and porous, in this lie is 
assuredly assisted by w r orins, for they form thousands of air and water 
ducts through the whole thickness of the staple of the arable soil, and 
consequently render it more suitable for the growth of plants. 
This, however, is but a contracted view of the usefulness of earth¬ 
worms, for, considering them as one of the grades of animal existence, 
they are indispensable to many classes above as well as beneath them. 
They are the food of many birds, and of fishes when washed from the 
crumbling banks of drains, ditches, and rivers ; and they constitute the 
sole food of the mole, and an agreeable repast to the skulking hedge-hog 
and ravenous swine. So instinctively fearful of the mole are the earth** 
VOL. V. —NO. LXVI. 3 N 
