The Habits of Worms

Abstract

So little is known about the habits of worms that it seems desirable to place on record any new observation calculated to throw light on the subject. On September 17 I received from Mr. Edwards, curator of the Worcester Museum, a small tube containing about half a score of living worms. The letter which accompanied the tube informed me that the worms were found in a lavatory basin. It was assumed that they had found their way up through the waste-pipe, as none had been found when the plug was fixed in the bottom of the basin. The worms were taken in the morning when the plug was not inserted, and when the water had been very slowly dripping all night. They were found singly, but when placed in a tube coiled themselves into a ball, and were difficult to separate. Each worm was about three-quarters of an inch in length, possessed of red blood, and having five to eight setæ in each bundle. These features, together with the shape of the brain and spermathecæ, show the species to be Pachydrilus subterraneus, Vejdovsky. It was first described in 1889, and on April 8, 1892, I received it from the late Dr. Plowright, of King's Lynn. This was the first British, record; but it has since been found by Mr. Southern and myself in various parts of the British Isles. It was obtained by Prof. Vejdovsky from the underground waters of Lille and Prague, and has more than once been sent to me by irate persons who complained that it had been found in their drinking water.