Earth-Worms in History. 55 



to all the others. That the worms have a preference for one 

 taste over another, is still further shown from what follows. 

 Pieces of the leaves of cabbage, turnip, horse-radish and 

 onion have been fed to the worms, mingled with the leaves 

 of an Artemisia and of the culinary sage, thyme and mint, 

 differing in no material degree in texture from the foregoing 

 four, yet quite as strong in taste, but the latter were quite 

 neglected excepting those of the mint, which were slightly 

 nibbled, but the others were all attacked and had to be 

 renewed. 



There is little to be noted about the mental qualities of 

 worms. They have been seen to be timid creatures. Their 

 eagerness for certain kinds of food manifestly shows that 

 they must enjoy the pleasure of eating. So strong is their 

 sexual passion that they overcome for a time their dread of 

 light. They seem to have a trace of social feeling, for they 

 are not disturbed by crawling over each other's bodies, and 

 they sometimes lie in contact. Although remarkably defi- 

 cient in the several sense-organs, yet this does not necessarily 

 preclude intelligence, for it has been shown that when their 

 attention is engaged they neglect impressions to which they 

 would otherwise have attended, and attention, as is well 

 known, indicates the presence of a mind of some kind. A 

 few actions are performed instinctively, that is, all the indi- 

 viduals, including the young, perform each action in nearly 

 the same manner. The various species of Perichaeta eject 

 their castings so as to construct towers, and the burrows 

 of the Common Earth-worm Lumbricus terrestris are 

 smoothly lined with fine earth and often with little stones, and 

 the mouth with leaves. One of their strongest instincts is 

 the plugging up of the mouths of their burrows with various 

 objects, the very young worms acting in a similar manner. 

 But some degree of intelligence is manifested, as will subse- 

 quently appear. 



Almost everything is eaten by worms. They swallow 

 enormous quantities of earth, from which they extract any 



