BREEDING HABITS OF THE EARTHWORM 101 



appeared just as young as ever. As a matter of fact, the earth- 

 worm is about as nearly perfect a digestive apparatus as can be 

 conceived of in the animal world. Its secretions take care of 

 every form of food, both acid and alkaline sugars, starches, 

 proteins, fats. Equipped with a powerful gizzard, it does not 

 have to select or chew the food. The worm swallows anything 

 small enough to enter its mouth, including grains of sand and 

 small stones which act as millstones in the gizzard, which grinds 

 and mixes everything. It absorbs and assimilates nutrients from 

 the swallowed material. It breaths through the skin and elimi- 

 nates through the skin. So, barring accidental destruction, earth- 

 worms should enjoy comparative immortality in the flesh, re- 

 maining eternally youthful through perfect assimilation and elimi- 

 nation. 



As earthworms are both male and female in one body, a 

 colony may be established from one fertile earthworm or from 

 a single egg-capsule. With a capsule being produced every seven 

 to ten days and hatching from one or two to twenty worms, it 

 can be seen that production will soon reach astronomical figures. 

 Those who are particularly interested in mathematics can take 

 a pencil and paper and figure it out. There is no difficulty or 

 problem in the production of plenty of worms, even into the 

 millions, once the simple technique is studied and a start made. 



