Hello all,

I'm not a "gardener" in the passionate sense, but I do work in my back
yard out of necessity. I live in Portland, Oregon, to give you an idea
of the climate and latitude. I was yesterday pulling up some unwanted
grass from between the elements of a stone walkway when I noticed a
bizarre (to me) creature in the soil, apparently living either within
the grass roots or just below them in the soil.

This guy was about a half inch to maybe an inch in length, a quarter
inch wide, deep rusty brown in color, round in cross section, with a
worm-like "head" which was articulated (jointed) and which probed
slowly back and forth. No eyes, feelers, or other sense organs to
speak of, and no visible mouth, although I'm sure it must have one.

At first I thought it was, in fact, a worm, or rather the head of a
worm which I had unfortunately ripped from the body by my grass
pulling. But soon I found another, identical in form, and realized it
was a complete organism.

A good comparison would be like a bullet in a cartridge, with the
articulated "head" being the bullet, which seemed to be sheathed in
the main body or skeleton of the creature (the cartridge).

Can anybody tell me what this thing might be? I'm fascinated by it for
some reason.

Thanks a bunch,
Scott L