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Show Earthworm. Darwin says in "The Formation of Vegetable Mold:" "If aman had to plug up a small cylindrical hole with such objects as leaves, petioles or twigs he would drag or push them in by their pointed ends, but if those objects were very thin relatively to the size of the hole he would probably insert some by their thicker or broader end. The guide in his case would be intelligence. " He then goes on to shoy.jy reports of actual experiments that th? is the method pursued pur-sued by earthworms. Not only do they adapt the leaves of the trees of their own country to their needs, but the leaves of foreign trees are dealt with in a similar way. The following words of Mr. Darwin Dar-win are remarkable: "If worms are able to judge, either before drawing or after having drawn an object close to the mouths of their burrows, how best to drag it in, they must acquire some notion no-tion of its general shape. This they probably prob-ably acquire by touching it in many places with the anterior extremity of their bodies, which serves as a tactile organ. ' It may be well to remember how perfect per-fect the sense of touch becomes in a man wnen DOrn blind ana ueai, as are worms. If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and of their burrows, as seems to be the case, they deserve to be called intelligent, for they then act in nearly the same manner as would a man under similar circumstances." |