169
BRITISH ANNELIDS.
WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EARTHWORMS OF ESSEX.
By REV. HILDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S.
(Continued from page 111.)
MY frequent appeals for help in this study have met with a very
heartless response from the nature-lovers of Essex. But for
the kindness and courtesy of two friends my articles must have come
to an untimely end, and even now they appear likely to remain
imperfect, unless a few ardent workers will come forward, and by one
united effort render the work complete.
Following up our subject where it was left in The Essex
Naturalist for July (ante pp. 107-111), we come now to the study
of the second group of Allolobophora, which I have designated the
Mucida group. As I have already indicated, in a footnote on p. 109,
considerable strides have been taken in our knowledge since that
article was first penned, and new worms have been discovered which
will make a further revision necessary ; but for the present I will
retain the name, and place under it all those worms which most
naturally fall under this designation. I may in the first place give a
brief summary of the characteristic of the group, after which, a
detailed account of each species will appropriately follow.
Allolobophora: §2, Mucida.
A group of worms found almost exclusively in fields and
pastures ; not averse to poor soil, which they greatly benefit, but
sometimes found in rich soil, as in cultivated fields and gardens.
Unlike the true earthworms (Lumbrici), they usually have the tail
cylindrical. I may point out, what other observers appear never to
have indicated, that in Lumbricus the flattened tail is of immense
value to the worm as it lies partly exposed in its burrow. The
Mucid Worms seldom adopt this habit, hence the posterior extremity
differs in shape. The head or lip is only partially dovetailed into the
first ring or peristomium; the male pores are usually placed on
prominent papillae on the fifteenth segment, and the girdle is
frequently large and closely fused. Under the girdle, on alternate
or consecutive segments, are the papillae known as the tubcrcula
pubcrtatis. In colour the worms vary from a deep sea-green to
yellow, orange, flesh-red, clay, and sienna-brown. They emit,
when irritated, a peculiar mucus (whence the name of the group)
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