80 HABITS OF WOKMS. Chap. II. 



Petioles. — We will now turn to the petioles 

 or foot-stalks of compound leaves, after the 

 leaflets have fallen off. Those from Clematis 

 montana, which grew over a verandah, were 

 dragged early in January in large numbers 

 into the burrows on an adjoining gravel- 

 walk, lawn, and flower-bed. These petioles 

 vary from 2^ to 4<| inches in length, are 

 rigid and of nearly uniform thickness, except 

 close to the base where they thicken rather 

 abruptly, being here about twice as thick as 

 in any other part. The apex is somewhat 

 pointed, but soon withers and is then easily 

 broken off. Of these petioles, 314 were pulled 

 out of burrows in the above specified sites ; 

 and it was found that 76 per cent, had been 

 drawn in by their tips, and 24 per cent, by 

 their bases ; so that those drawn in by the 

 tip were a little more than thrice as many 

 as those drawn in by the base. Some of those 

 extracted from the well-beaten gravel-walk 

 were kept separate from the others; and of 

 these (59 in number) nearly five times as 

 many had been drawn in by the tip as by 

 the base ; whereas of those extracted from 

 the lawn and flower-bed, where from the 

 soil yielding more easily, less care would be 



