148 Lessons in Nature Study. 



and after showers ? Why do they dig down deeper when 

 we have dry weather and cold winter weather ? 



These poor little blind creatures have a great many ene- 

 mies. If they come out on the ground, the robins and 

 chickens, toads and other animals, eat them up. Did you 

 ever see a robin have one in her mouth ? Did the old hen 

 ever watch you when you were digging bait, and pick up 

 the worms when they came out of the ground ? But they 

 have enemies underground also. The moles often follow 

 them and eat them. Boys dig them and use them for fish- 

 ing. These worms do much good for us. By digging in 

 the ground they help to loosen it up, and they make it rich 

 by the worm-casts that they leave on the surface. 



If I cut it, the earthworm does not feel it so badly as 

 other animals. We will take a box of this nice moist earth 

 and sift it, so that there will be no worms in it. Then we 

 will cut this big worm in two, and put both pieces in the box 

 so. I will put on the cover so that this worm cannot get 

 away, and we will watch to see what will occur. 



When earthworms are cut in pieces, the parts will develop 

 a new head and tail respectively, and form two individuals. 

 This usually requires some time. The earth must be kept 

 moist. The dirt in the box should be sifted again in a 

 month, and the worms carefully examined for proofs of the 

 statement. The writer, when a boy, had an aquarium in an 

 old tub. On the bottom was a layer of earth free from 

 earthworms. He fed his fish with angle-worms chopped 

 fine. Some pieces fell to the bottom, and when the tub 

 was cleaned after three months the earth was filled with 

 small worms. But whether the worms came from the 

 pieces fed to the fishes, or whether the new worms were 

 hatched from eggs already in the mud, he is not now pre- 

 pared to state. 



Earthworms eat many things besides dirt. Leaf-mould 

 and particles of food found on the surface- of the ground 

 form part of their diet. Darwin found that they will eat 

 sugar, starch, meat, crumbs of bread, etc. 



