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Show 64 HABITS OF WORMS. CHAP. II. probable explanation of the habit. But the p 1u gg1. ng-up proc ess may serve for all the above purposes. . Whatever the motive may be, It appears that worms much dislike leaving the mouths of their burrows open. Nevertheless they .11 them at night whether or not WI reopen ' t h ey can a ft,e rwards close them. Numerous open burrows may be seen on rec~ntly-du_g ground, for in this case t~e worms eJect the~r castings in cavities left In th.e. ground, or m the old burrows, instead of pihng them over the mouths of their burrows, and they cannot ~ollect objects on the surface by wh_ich the mouths might be protected. So again on a recently disinterred pavement of a R~man villa at Abinger (hereafter to be des~ribed) the worms pertinaciously opened thmr burrows ahnost every night, when these had heen closed by being trampled on, alth?ugh they were rarely able to :find a few minute stones wherewith to protect them. Intelligence shown by worms in their manner of plugging up their burrows.-lf a rna~ bad to plug up a small cylindrical ho:e, with such objects as leaves, petioles or ~wig~, he woul~ drag or push them in by then pmnted ends' CTIAP. II. THEIR IN'l'ELLIGENCE. 65 but if these objects were very thin relatively ~o the size of the hole, he would probably Insert some by their thicker or broader ends. The guide in his case would be intelligence. It seemed ~herefore worth while to observe carefully bow worms dragged leaves into their burrows; whether by their tips or b~ses or ~iddle parts. It seemed more espeCJally desirable to do this in the case of plants not natives to our country; for although the habit of dragging leaves into their burrows ~s ~mdoubtedly instinctive with worms, yet Instinct could not tell them how to act in the case of leaves about which their progenitors knew nothing. If, moreover, worms acted solely throngh instinct or an unvarying inherited impulse, they would draw ~ll kinds of leaves into their burrows in the same manner. If they have no such definite instinct, we might expect that chance would determine whether the tip, base or middle was seized. If both these alternatives are excluded, intelligence alone is left; unless the worm in each case first tries many different methods, and follows that alone which proves possible or the most easy; but to act F |
