| OCR Text |
Show 72 HABITS OF WORMS. CHAP. II. fresh leaves had been pulled in, and tho burrows were again well protected. These leaves could not be dragged into the burrows to any depth, except by their base , as a worm cannot seize hold of the two needles at the same time, and if one alone were seized by the apex, the other would be ~ressocl ao-ainst the ground and would rcs1st the e~try of the seized one. This was manifest in the above mentioned two or three exceptional cases. In order, therefore, that worms should do their work we11, they must drag pine-leaves into their burrows b~ ~heir bases, where the two needles are conJOlncd. But how they are guided in this work is a perplexing question. '£his difficulty .Jed my son Francis and myself to observe worms in confinement during several nights by the aid of a dim light, while they dragged the leaves of the above named pines into their burrows. They moved the anterior extremities of their bodies about the leaves, and on several occasions when they touched the sharp end of a needle they withdrew suddenly as if pricked. But I doubt whether they were hurt, for they are indifferent to very sharp objects, and will swallow CliAP. II. 'l'IIEIR IN'l'ELLIOENCE. 73 even rose-thorns and small splinters of glass. It may al o be doubted, whether the sharp end ~ of the 11eodles serve to tell them that tbi i the wrong end to eize; for the points were cut off rrmny leaves for a length of about Olle inch, anJ fifty-seven of them thus treated were drawn into the burrows by their bases, and not one by the cut-off ends. The worms in confinement often seized the needles ncar the middle and drew them towards the mouths of their burrows; anJ ono worm tried in a senseless manner to drag them into the burrow by bending them. They sometimes collected many more leaves over the mouths of their burrows (as in tho case formerly mentioned of lime-leaves) than could enter them. On other occa ions, however, they behaved very differently; for as soon as they touched the base of a pine-leaf~ this was seized, being sometimes completely engulfed in their mouths, or a point very near the base was seized, and the leaf was then quickly dragged or rat.hor jerked into their burrows. It appeared both to my son and myself as if the worms instantly perceived as soon as they had seized a leaf in the proper manner. Nine sucl1 cases were ob erved, |
