Earthworms and Their AlliesBeddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Science
Earthworms and Their Allies
Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Earthworms
We may also refer to certain structures which although not universal
among these aquatic families are nevertheless found only in
them--that is, are not found in any family of the terrestrial worms
of this order. The most salient of such characters are the long and
hair-shaped setae tapering to a fine point and often provided with
a series of delicate branches like a feather; such setae are often
of very great length and they occur in their various modifications
among the Aeolosomatidae, Naididae, and Tubificidae. It is clear
that these delicate setae, though they may not be due in any way to
the aquatic life, are rendered possible by it. To drag such tender
processes through stiff clay would surely break and tear them out.
It may be also mentioned that among the aquatic families as a rule
the intersegmental septa do not show that thickening in some of the
anterior segments of the body which is so general a feature of the
land-dwelling species. Finally it is only among the aquatic forms,
and among them only in the families Aeolosomatidae and Naididae, that
asexual reproduction by budding takes place. Indeed so common and
usual is it in the genera of these families that even yet there are
considerable lacunae in our knowledge of the organs of reproduction
in the said families.
Together with these general similarities are many points of
structural difference among the worms inhabiting ponds, lakes, and
rivers, which allow of their being divided into a number of quite
distinct families.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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