[L., pl. of vermis worm.]
1. Path. (See quot. 1728.)
[1693. trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Vermes, see Lumbrici.]
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Vermes, in Medicine, a Disease popularly call’d Worms; arising from some of those Reptiles being generated, and growing in the Body.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 203. Observations on Diseases in London…. Vermes,… Epistaxis,… Epilepsia.
2. Zool. One or other of the primary divisions, sub-kingdoms or groups of the animal kingdom proposed or adopted at various times by certain classifiers, comprehending worms and allied forms, but differing widely as to the nature and number of the classes or families included.
The term was introduced by Linnæus in his Systema Naturæ (1766).
1771. Encycl. Brit., III. 362/2. Linnæus divides the whole animal kingdom into 6 classes…. Class VI. Vermes, or Worms.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 225. The following catalogues of insects and vermes.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., II. 418. Linnæus … arranged the whole in his class Vermes.
1878. Bell, Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 125. I arrange the various divisions of the Vermes in the following order … I. Platyhelminthes. II. Nemathelminthes [etc.].
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 677/2. The group Vermes as used … by Claus includes several distinct phyla, viz., Nematoidea [etc.].
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 579. Other Vermes are certainly unisegmental.
