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An order of Annelida which includes the earthworms and related species.

The part of the oviduct of certain trematode worms in which the ova are completed and furnished with a shell.

An order of tailless amphibians having a slender, wormlike body with regular annulations, and usually with minute scales imbedded in the skin. The limbs are rudimentary or wanting. It includes the cæcilians. Called also Gymnophiona and Ophidobatrachia.

The blindworm.

To turn pale; to lose color or luster. Whittier. Apt to pale at a trodden worm. Mrs. Browning.

such as are seen beneath the epidermis of the upper surface of many leaves. -- Palisade worm (Zoöl.), a nematoid worm (Strongylus armatus), parasitic in the blood vessels of the horse, in which it produces aneurisms, often fatal.

nus Rhynchophorus. The larvæ bore into palm trees, and are called palm borers, and grugru worms. They are considered excellent food. -- Palm wine, the sap of several species of palms, especially, in India, of the wild date palm (Phoenix sylvestrix), the palmyra, and the Caryota urens. When fermented it yields by disti…

in the body of some other animal, feeding upon its food, blood, or tissues, as lice, tapeworms, etc.

An epidemic disease of the silkworm, characterized by the presence of minute vibratory corpuscles in the blood.

Surrounded by setæ; -- said of certain earthworms (genus Perichætus).

Applied to the peculiar wormlike wave motion of the intestines and other similar structures, produced by the successive contraction of the muscular fibers of their walls, forcing their contents onwards; as, peristaltic movement. -- Per`i*stal"tic*al*ly, adv.

Any moth of the family Phalænidæ, of which the cankerworms are examples; a geometrid.

A genus of American herbs, having showy red, white, or purple flowers. Phlox worm (Zoöl.), the larva of an American moth (Heliothis phloxiphaga). It is destructive to phloxes. -- Phlox subulata, the moss pink. See under Moss.

A remarkable genus of marine worms having tentacles around the mouth. It is usually classed with the gephyreans. Its larva (Actinotrocha) undergoes a peculiar metamorphosis.

The free-swimming, hat-shaped larva of certain nemertean worms. It has no resemblance to its parent, and the young worm develops in its interior.

cultivated for its showy red blossoms. Called also Carolina pink, Maryland pinkroot, and worm grass.

Any species of turbellarian worms belonging to Planaria, and many allied genera. The body is usually flat, thin, and smooth. Some species, in warm countries, are terrestrial.

One of the Planarida, or Dendrocoela; any turbellarian worm. -- Pla*na"ri*an, a.

A class of helminthes including the cestodes, or tapeworms, the trematodes, and the turbellarians. Called also flatworms.

The operation of dispersing worm casts over the walks with poles.