Farth-Worms in Ffrstory. 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 Pericheta eject 
their castings so as to construct towers, and the burrows 
of the Common Earth-worm —Lumobricus 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 
