Image ID 400583 Premium Services      Common Earthworm (Lumbricus variegates) Lithograph after James Samuelson From: J. Samuelson, Humble Creatures; Part I. The Earthworm, and the Common Housefly. 2nd ed. (London, 1860) NYPL, General Research Division

In addition to the adult worm, the author/artist has depicted its anterior rings (Fig. 3), a cross section (Fig. 4), and an emergent hatchling (Fig. 1).

Wherever a plant grows in the city, the Common Earthworm is present, eating its way through the soil, which it aerates and fertilizes with undigested castings. Arguably one of our least-noticed and least-appreciated urban neighbors, the earthworm is also one of the most resilient. Just days after the horrors of September 11, 2001, Battery Park City Park Conservancy gardeners discovered that many plants remained alive under the ashes in the Esplanade and other gardens near Ground Zero. And under the soil below the ashes, earthworms were found, unaffected by the devastation above.