. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. 398 ANNELIDES. 120 or more ring's ; the bulge is towards its anterior third. Under the sixteenth ring are two pores, of which the use is unknown. It pierces the ground in all directions, perforating it remarkably well, and subsists on roots, woody fibres, animal matter, &c. In the month of June it searches at night above ground for a mate. [It is especially in rich and well-manured soils that the Earthworm delights, particularly in gardens and meadows ; they are extremely sensitive to movements of the earth ; and
. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. 398 ANNELIDES. 120 or more ring's ; the bulge is towards its anterior third. Under the sixteenth ring are two pores, of which the use is unknown. It pierces the ground in all directions, perforating it remarkably well, and subsists on roots, woody fibres, animal matter, &c. In the month of June it searches at night above ground for a mate. [It is especially in rich and well-manured soils that the Earthworm delights, particularly in gardens and meadows ; they are extremely sensitive to movements of the earth ; and anglers, knowing well their temerity in this respect, take advantage of it, in order to obtain a supply of these animals for baits, by introducing a spade or fork into the ground, and stirring the soil, when they soon appear on the surface. We are indebted to Charles Darwin, Esq., for a remarkable and interesting memoir on the utility of this animal, read before the Geological Society. The worm casts, which so much annoy the gardener by deforming his smooth-shaven lawns, are of no small importance to the agriculturist ; and this despised creature is not only of great sen'ice in loosening the earth, and rendering it permeable by air and water, but is also a most active and powerful agent in adding to the depth of the soil, and in covering comparatively barren tracts with a supei-ficial layer of wholesome mould. The author's attention was directed by Mr. Wedgwood, of Maer Hall, Staffordshire, to several fields, some of which had a few years before been covered with lime, and others with burnt marl and cinders, which substances in every case are now buried to the depth of some inches below the turf, just as if, as the farmers believe, the particles had worked themselves dovm. After shewing the impossibility of this supposed operation, the author affirms that the whole is due to the digestive process by which the common Earthworm is supported, since, on carefully examining between
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookpublishe, booksubjectanimals
