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I would not enter on tin list of friends, (Tho' grae'd with polish'd manners and tine sense Yet wanting sensihilit\) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm". Wilham Cowper, The Task (1784) Nobody could needlessly set foot upon one of the giant earthworms of Australia or Brazil, large specimens of which may attain lengths of 1 1 feet and weigh up to 1 pound. But to many people earthworms are lowly insignificant creatures whose main utility is to act as bait for catching larger and more edible animals. The Canadian earthworms are indeed represented only by the smaller, more modest, forms and even though to the uninitiated they all seem to be the same there are in fact several species which are not too difficult to distinguish. In this book Dr. Reynolds has assembled, for the first time, all pertinent data, both systematic and biological, on the Canadian earthworm fauna, and with the aid of a key, and the fine illustrations of Dr. Dan Dindal, any naturalist or fisherman should be able to name accurately the specimens that he has at hand. Earthworms are a significant component of the soil fauna and their beneficial effects on the agricultural properties of soils have been documented since the time of Darwin. Some idea of the extent of their activity can be obtained by reflecting on the fact that something apparently so permanent as the monument of Stonehenge is being buried at the rate of about seven inches per century as a result of the burrowing activities of earthworms. Because of their effects on the soil there can be little doubt that a proper understanding of these creatures is greatly to man's benefit but, as Dr. Reynolds points out, very little is known of their biology in North America. This book should form a valuable basis for further study of these important aspects. Dr. Faustus, in part I of Goethe's Faust, speaks disparagingly of him who "finds his happiness unearthing worms". And an old Chinese aphorism warns "watch the earthworm; miss the eclipse". But anybody who has spent time investigating and observing the smaller and lesser known animals of this planet knows that there is much intellectual satisfaction to be gained from such efforts. The great Victorian naturalist, Thomas Henry Huxley, likened the uninformed naturalist to a person walking through an art gallery in which nine-tenths of the pictures have their faces to the walls. With the aid of this book a few more pictures are now on view. The Royal Ontario Museum is fortunate to have persuaded Drs. Reynolds and Dindal to collaborate in producing this book, and zoologists, farmers, fishermen, naturalists, and teachers throughout northern North America should have cause to appreciate their labours.

Extremely premature infants manifest clinical features suggestive of adrenal insufficiency. Yet, serum cortisol levels are similar in ill and well preterm infants in a setting where one would expect high stress levels in the ill infants. We investigated the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in 17 extremely low birth weight stressed premature infants, mean birth weight 739 g, gestational age, 26.1 weeks, using ovine CRH (oCRH) and ACTH stimulation. oCRH (1 microgram/kg) was administered at 2-7 days of life (mean = 4.1). ACTH rose from a basal value 6.0 +/- 0.8 pmol/L (mean +/- SEM) to 9.6 +/- 1.8 pmol/L (P < 0.01) at 15 min and 9.5 +/- 1.7 pmol/L (P < 0.01) at 60 min. Basal cortisol rose from 349.3 +/- 58.1 nmol/L to 422.3 +/- 57.9 nmol/L (P < 0.01) at 15 min and 568.7 +/- 60.2 nmol/L (P < 0.01) at 60 min. Cortisol values remained significantly (P < 0.05) elevated 24 h after oCRH. An ACTH stimulation test performed 24 h after the oCRH test demonstrated a significant cortisol rise from 603.5 +/- 130.5 nmol/L to 882.7 +/- 136.6 nmol/L (P < 0.05) at 60 min. Plasma CRH immunoactivity was also measured before oCRH testing and was detectable in 10 of 15 infants. The mean CRH immunoactivity was 21.8 +/- 4.4 pmol/L in the infants, significantly higher than 8 adult male controls (P < 0.04). Our results show a normal pituitary response to ovine CRH and a normal adrenal response to ACTH. We hypothesize that cortisol levels are inappropriately low in some ill preterm infants because of the inability of the extremely premature brain to recognize the stress of the illness or because of inadequate hypothalamic secretion of CRH. The significance of the measurable plasma CRH in the first week of life is unknown.

We report on five preterm infants (34 to 36 weeks' gestation) in whom an overwhelming illness developed within the first 48 hours of life. Each had mild respiratory distress that progressed within 48 hours to deep coma requiring ventilatory assistance. Ammonia concentrations in the plasma ranged from 844 to 7640 microgram per deciliter. Four received exchange transfusion and peritoneal dialysis; ammonia values returned to the normal range (less than 150 mug per deciliter) within 72 hours and remained there even after protein challenge. These four subsequently fed and developed normally. The fifth infant died without an attempt to lower plasma ammonia. In this infant (and two of the others) urea-cycle enzymes measured in liver tissue were in the normal range. Transient hyperammonemia of unknown cause may be a relatively common variety of neonatal hyperammonemia; it responds well to prompt diagnosis and aggressive therapy.

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