The Wonder of the World 33 



their transport of little stones to protect the en- 

 trance to the burrows, their deft way of dealing 

 with leaves difficult to manage. We note that 

 though eyeless they are very sensitive to light and 

 persistently avoid it when in good health; that 

 though earless, they are quickly aware even of the 

 light tread of a hungry blackbird; that though they 

 are without anything like a nose, they have a sense 

 of smell — fine instances, in short, of functions be- 

 fore organs. We inquire into their relations with 

 other living creatures, and we find that they have 

 not a few parasites — even worms within worms — 

 to most of which, as is usual among animals, they 

 have so adjusted themselves that nothing detri- 

 mental happens, while to one kind at least — the 

 larvae of a fly — they often succumb. We find that 

 they are persecuted by numerous enemies, such as 

 centipedes, moles, and birds, and we can then 

 better understand their extraordinary power of 

 growing a new tail or even a new head after injury 

 or breakage. We may possibly discover the eerie 

 collection of decapitated earthworms which moles 

 sometimes make as a store of food for winter — de- 

 capitated, so that they cannot crawl away and yet 

 remain fresh food, unable even to regrow their 

 heads while they are waiting to be eaten, for the 

 regeneration does not occur at a low temperature. 

 We may inquire into their individual development, 

 now so well known that we could almost make a 



