122 



HARD 1VICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSS IP. 



this is the habit of the creature, and as I once, and 

 once only, caught a lob-worm actually at work, I shall 

 describe what I saw, which I thought extremely 

 curious. 



My attention was directed to the fact that if the 

 small heaps of pebbles were cleared away from a 

 worm-hole, they were sure to be replaced next 

 morning. Suspecting they worked only at night, I 

 went late one summer evening, after a shower of 

 rain, to a bed in the garden which was very full of 

 earth-worms. Walking up to it on tip-toe, and with 

 extreme care (for I was well aware that if it felt the 

 footstep two or three yards off, it would retire into 

 the hole), I was lucky enough to see one very big 

 worm with its body about half out of the hole. I 

 then stood for some time perfectly still, and watched 

 it as it reached out its elastic head to a small pebble, 

 and by a clever jerk, or possibly, by its slimy mois- 

 ture adhering to it, it drew the pebble to its hole 

 and left it close to the edge. Thus it took another 

 and another, and now I was able to explain what I 

 had often noticed, that every pebble within a circle 

 of about six inches was moved away and piled up 

 over the hole. The worm took the circle, elongating 

 Hs body, and moving east or west and to every point 

 of the compass, so to say, till not a pebble was left 

 within its reach. This I sate, and the reader may 

 believe that it is a strictly accurate account, though it 

 may seem to credit the creature with more intelligence 

 than it has any right to possess. 



I believe the same may be seen by anyone who 

 will take a lantern into the garden late on a summer's 

 night, for they can hardly be conscious of light ; even 

 ■of this, indeed, I have sometimes entertained a doubt, 

 though I cannot explain it in an eyeless creature. 

 Certain it is that on gently uncovering a pot of earth 

 containing a lob-worm, and bringing a candle to 

 examine it, when it happens to be above ground, the 

 creature will almost always immediately disappear. 



But the feat which I saw performed is nothing to 

 what I am going to describe. I found on a gravel 

 path in my garden, and on the grass-plot adjoining, 

 a number of worm-holes, all stopped up with the long 

 narrow leaves of the weeping willow, which had 

 fallen in the late autumn, and had been placed erect 

 in small bunches. On examining separately a num- 

 ber of these leaves (of which each hole contained on 

 the average about twenty, though many of them had 

 more), I found, to my surprise, that every leaf had 

 the stalk-end uppermost, and the other end rolled 

 together into a kind of plug so as to fill up the hole. 

 Aery rarely indeed, perhaps in one or two out of 

 a hundred leaves, the creature had made a mistake, 

 and put the stalk-end downwards. But in these few 

 leaves the end was quite entire, whereas the leaf- 

 plugs in general seemed to have been nibbled or 

 partly eaten at the ends within the holes. Evidently 

 the stalk-ends were too tough, and the worm had 

 the extraordinary intelligence, blind as of course it 



is, to find out by the touch the right and the wrong 

 end, and to make use of each leaf accordingly. 



The mouth-end (so to call it) of a lob-worm has 

 many analogies to an elephant's trunk. It can curl 

 it and twist it, make it blunt or sharp, curved or 

 hooked, as it pleases ; and it is evident that an acute 

 sense of feeling resides in it. Therefore, recklessly 

 to chop worms in half with a spade, on the plea that 

 they do not feel, or to impale them on fish-hooks, is 

 cruel, even though we take old Walton's advice and 

 perform the operation "tenderly." 



Worms feed by a kind of suction, as well as by 

 digesting vegetable fibre; they pass earth through 

 their long tubular stomachs, and eject it on the sur- 

 face in those little hillocks which we call worm-casts, 

 and which so much disfigure our closely-mown lawns, 

 till we flatten them down with the garden roller. 

 But these worm-casts perform more than one very 

 important function. 



( To be continued. ) 



BOTANICAL WORK FOR JUNE. 



IN taking our usual daily walk in the spring months, 

 we have often seen the Chickweed, Marsh Mari- 

 gold, and Water-blinks. We select these species 

 because they are so common as to be generally passed 

 over with the remark, "Oh, it is only the Chick- 

 weed," and so on. 



Stay, however ; not quite so fast. The poor Chick- 

 weed, despised because it is so common, covers, with- 

 out doubt, three distinct species. As the result of a 

 careful examination, extending over twelve years, we 

 now regard this despised plant with deep interest, 

 and, at a glance, can detect the three species we now 

 lay before our readers : — 



First. — The Stcllaria media, Linn., may be recog- 

 nized by the line of hairs on the stem and branches. 



1. The true S. media, Linn., has five stamens; 

 petals invariably present. 



2. S. Borceana, Jord., is devoid of petals ; stamens 

 three. 



3. S. neglecta, Weihe. Sepals with long hairs, 

 often as long as the petals ; stamens ten. Note. — 

 We are unable to detect any good specific distinction 

 betwixt S. umbrosa and 6". neglecta. 



Further. — No. 1 has showy flowers, with few 

 branches, about four inches long. No. 2 is a small 

 tufted plant ; branches very short ; flowers inconspi- 

 cuous. No. 3 is not unlike dwarf specimens of Stel- 

 laria nemorum, L. ; branches sometimes eighteen 

 inches high ; leaves large ; flowers large. 



Our next species is the Marsh Marigold (Caltha 

 pahtstris). For many years we overlooked this 

 species, but now it seems like an old friend altered 

 by long absence. It is split up into three varieties ; 

 but we now only notice those which are common, or 



