34 HABITS OF WORMS. Chap. i. 



Mental Qualities. — There is little to be said 

 on this head. We have seen that worms are 

 timid. It may be doubted whether they 

 suffer as much pain when injured, as they 

 seem to express by their contortions. Judging 

 by their eagerness for certain kinds of food, 

 they must enjoy the pleasure of eating. 

 Their sexual passion is strong enough to 

 overcome for a time their dread of light. 

 They perhaps have a trace of social feeling, 

 for they are not disturbed by crawling over 

 each other's bodies, and they sometimes lie 

 in contact. According to Hoffmeister they 

 pass the winter either singly or rolled up 

 with others into a ball at the bottom of their 

 burrows.* Although worms are so remark- 

 ably deficient in the several sense-organs, 

 this does not necessarily preclude intelligence, 

 as we know from such cases as those of Laura 

 Bridgman; and we have seen that when theii 

 attention is engaged, they neglect impressions 

 to which they would otherwise have attended ; 

 and attention indicates the presence of a mind 

 of some kind. They are also much more 

 easily excited at certain times than at others. 



* * Familie der Regenwiirmer,' p. 13. 



