76 HABITS OF WORMS. Chap. II. 



the leaf into its burrow, as it was entangled 

 by other leaves lying near. In another case 

 a leaf stood nearly upright with the points of 

 the needles partly inserted into a burrow, but 

 how placed there was not seen ; and then the 

 worm reared itself up and seized the base, 

 which was dragged into the mouth of the 

 burrow by bowing the whole leaf. On the 

 other hand, after a worm had seized the base 

 of a leaf, this was on two occasions relin- 

 quished from some unknown motive. 



As already remarked, the habit of plugging 

 up the mouths of the burrows with various 

 objects, is no doubt instinctive in worms ; 

 and a very young one, born in one of my 

 pots, dragged for some little distance a Scotch- 

 fir leaf, one needle of which was as long and 

 almost as thick as its own body. No species 

 of pine is endemic in this part of England, 

 it is therefore incredible that the proper 

 manner of dragging pine-leaves into the 

 burrows can be instinctive with our worms. 

 But as the worms on which the above obser- 

 vations were made, were dug up beneath or 

 near some pines, which had been planted 

 there about forty years, it was desirable to 

 prove that their actions were not instinctive. 



