Worm

“ I had heard of the worm, and any time I happened, in galloping about the heath, to find myself near the pool, the thought would always come back with a fresh shudder—what if the legend were a true one, and the worm was down there biding his time! but anything more about the worm I had never heard.
“No, uncle,” I answered; “I don't know what worm it is.”
“Ah,” he answered, with a sigh, “if you do not take the more care, little one, you will some day learn, not what the worm is called, but what it is! The worm that lives there, is the worm that never dies.” ”

“ It is nothing more nor less than the head of a worm, not much like the slow-moving senseless earthworm, but one which builds a house for its protection among crannies of the stones, into which it can withdraw its plumed head, sensitive to even a passing shadow. ”

“ Worms have fallen upon evil days, for, whether modern books are readable or not, they have long since ceased to be edible. The worm's instinct forbids him to 'eat the china clay, the bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores of adulterants now used to mix with the fibre.' Alas, poor worm! ”

“ It is directly the opposite; that is where the worm went out. He hatched from an egg, placed on, near by or just under the surface of the fruit; and eating a burrow to the core it grew large and plump, became a full-grown worm, burrowed to the surface, and passed out. When you see worms hanging in great numbers from single webs or the bole of your tree alive, with myriads of worms crawling, some up, some down, some crosswise, know of a surety that they are not going up, but coming down to Mother Earth. Insect life changes more in a day than humanity does in a year. ”

“ A worm like a night crawler, only much larger, in fact, very much larger. That made him laugh — to think how much larger this worm was than the ones he had used for fishing. All through the night he walked the floor and burned the lamp and said, "This is my home. No worm can make me leave it!" Several times he went down the steps, just a few of them, and shouted the message into the pit as though he wanted the Worm to hear and understand, "This is my home! NO WORM CAN MAKE ME LEAVE IT!!" ”

“ The larva or worm is curiously folded in the egg, the tail resting between the teeth, which are disposed on each side the belly; the worm in proper time breaks the shell, in the same manner as a chicken, and crawls from thence to the next substance suitable for its food. The worm, when it is hatched, is very white, has six legs, and a wrinkled naked body, but the other parts are all covered with hair; the head is then also bigger than the whole body, a circumstance which may be observed in larger animals, and which is founded on wise reasons. ”

“ In the case of the worm, the moment he saw his prey—which I selected for its liveliness—he came to a nearer perch, and stood there a few minutes, posturing, shaking his plumage in great excitement, looking at me and then at the tempting object. Very soon he dropped to the floor and started towards the worm in the funniest way; running a few steps, stopping short and turning half round, ready for instant flight, flirting his feathers with a [Pg 150] great rustle, turning an anxious eye on me, then on the wriggling attraction, running a step or two, and repeating the performance. ”

“ The moment a worm comes to an edge, it lets out a web from its mouth before descending, and then it attaches itself to it and lets itself down; it hangs awhile in the air, and watches, and if it wants to get down farther, it does so, and if not, it pulls itself up by its web.
For days at a time the worms did nothing but eat. ”

“ It is amusing to observe the extreme care and deliberation with which the bird draws the worm from its hiding-place, coaxing it out as it were by degrees, instead of pulling roughly or breaking it. On getting the worm fairly out of the ground, it throws up its head with a jerk, and swallows it whole. ”

“ The worms carry into their homes leaves and stalks to eat. They bring out, and throw away, things which they do not like. Worms show much sense in the way in which they carry things in and out of their holes. If a stem will not go in, they turn it over, and try it in some other way.
Mr. Worm at Home.
Worms usually come out of their holes at night or in wet weather. If they go far from their house, they cannot find their way back. Then they make a new hole. Each worm lives alone. ”

“ Thus we find the humours and substances of the body, upon putrifaction, to produce strange kinds of moving Vermine: the putrifaction of the slimes and juices of the Stomack and Guts, produce Worms almost like Earth-worms, the Wheals in childrens hands produce a little Worm, call'd a Wheal-worm: The bloud and milk, and other humours, produce other kinds of Worms, at least, if we may believe what is deliver'd to us by very famous Authors ”

“ He said, “If you cut the worm in two, each end will go off and be a whole worm.”
That is not true of the worm. When the worm is cut in two, the parts do not die at once. As there are hooks and rings on each part, they each can move off.
It is thought that if the fore part is left safe, the cut can close up, and the worm can still live. A new tail may grow upon the front part, as Mr. Crab’s new claw or eye-peg grows.
The hind part cannot live and grow. It cannot get a new mouth or heart, so it can take no food, and have no blood. It soon dries up and dies. ”

“ When a worm is suddenly illuminated and dashes like a rabbit into its burrow—to use the expression employed by a friend—we are at first led to look at the action as a reflex one. The irritation of the cerebral ganglia appears to cause certain muscles to contract in an inevitable manner, independently of the will or consciousness of the animal, as if it were an automaton. ”

“ It has felt the jar of your steps.
The worm cannot see. Creatures that live under ground have but little use for eyes. Fishes that live in dark cave-rivers have no eyes. If the worm moves from the light and hides from it, it is because it feels the action of light on its skin. It does not see the light.
What does Mr. Worm eat? Some tell you that he eats dirt. It is true that he fills his body full of earth. That is to carry it to the top of the ground. Mr. Crab has claws and legs to bend into the shape of a basket. Poor Mr. Worm has no arms, legs, or claws, so he must make a basket of himself. ”

“ Anyhow, I've often seen them bring up one of those little worms that build sort of houses for themselves out of sticks and little bits of sand, and take it to a rock and pound it to pieces, and then eat the worm that's inside of it. ”

“ Often in the evening or early morning, or during rain, you will see worms near their houses. You may find them with their heads just put out of their doors. You will see the worm casts in early day or after rain. It is then the worms dare to come out. Sun and heat dry worms up very fast, and so kill them. ”

“ Large earthworms are nipped up with the jaws and laboriously poked in with the hands, the fingers being so placed as to clean the worm of adherent soil and other impurities. Very large worms are shaken, twisted, pressed against the ground and gulped down with convulsive movements, but not unfrequently the tip-end remains for some minutes sticking out of the tightly shut mouth. ”

“ The body of a large worm consists of from 100 to 200 almost cylindrical rings or segments, each furnished with minute bristles. The muscular system is well developed. Worms can crawl backwards as well as forwards, and by the aid of their affixed tails can retreat with extraordinary rapidity into their burrows. ”

“ These animals are of a great variety of shapes and size, and in such prodigious numbers, that, in a short time, the whole surface of the rock appears to be alive and in motion. The most common worm is in the shape of a star, with arms from four to six inches long, which move in every direction to catch food. ”

“ Nearly every stroke of the spade exposed two to five of these worms but so far as we observed, and we watched the man closely, pulverizing the soil, he neither injured nor left uncovered a single worm. ”

“ Observe the worms where they are at work on tomatoes. Disturb them and hear them grind their jaws together. Do they eat the foliage rapidly? Dust a little Paris green on the foliage where a worm is eating and see what happens in half an hour. ”

“ When a worm comes to the surface to eject earth, the tail protrudes, but when it collects leaves its head must protrude. Worms therefore must have the power of turning round in their closely-fitting burrows ”

“ The whole body of a worm is sensitive to contact. A slight puff of air from the mouth causes an instant retreat. The glass plates placed over the pots did not fit closely, and blowing through the very narrow chinks thus left, often sufficed to cause a rapid retreat. ”

“ There are also divers other kindes of worms, which for colour and shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got: as the marsh-worm, the tag-tail, the flag-worm, the dock-worm, the oake-worm, the gilt-tail, and too many to name, even as many sorts, as some think there be of severall kinds of birds in the air: of which I shall say no more, but tell you, that what worms soever you fish with, are the better for being long kept before they be used ”

“ The segments grow smaller and smaller as they approach the neck, the head of the worm being a mere point. As the worm is passing from the child it should never be pulled, as the head is easily broken off, and, on remaining in the bowel, it will grow to a full-sized worm. ”

“ There is one worm, well known by name at least, though happily not to be met with every day, and that is the tape-worm, who establishes himself in the intestine of man, and lives on the chyme, as the other worm does on garden-mould. ”

“ Its sensitive ears may direct it to the spot where a worm is driving its way through the earth, and should it come upon its prey, the very touch of the worm, writhing in terror at the approach of its enemy, would be sufficient to act as a guide. ”

“ From time to time, as the little worm grows, it enlarges its case, either by adding to the ends or by cutting with its sharp jaws little slits in the sides of the case, filling in the space between the edges with the substance nearest at hand, forming a neat patch. Not content with eating and making a shelter for itself of the cloth upon which it lives, the little worm cuts through the cloth as it makes its way in various directions, dragging its case after it. ”

“ LESSON XIII. MR. WORM AT WORK.
Worms are found in all parts of the world. I have told you that they help to build the world, and make it fit for the home of man.
Man cannot live without food. He gets his food from the earth. The worms help to prepare the earth to bring forth the food of man.
Oh, this is very strange, that humble and dirty worms can be a help to man! Man is the highest of all animals. Worms are nearly the lowest. And can worms help man? ”

“ If some adventurous little worm, or some young and sluggish crustacean, happens to ruffle the expanded involucrum of an actinia in its lazy progress through the water, the animal strikes it at once with its tentacles, and instinctively sweeps it into its open mouth. ”

“ Whilst many of the subterraneous insects, as the common worms, seem to retreat so deep into the earth as not to be enlivened or awakened by the difference of our winter days; and stop up their holes with leaves or straws, to prevent the frosts from injuring them, or the centipes from devouring them. The habits of peace, or the stratagems of war, of these subterranean nations are covered from our view; but a friend of mine prevailed on a distressed worm to enter the hole of another worm on a bowling-green, and he presently returned much wounded about his head. ”

“ When seen swimming in the water it presents the appearance of a long, many-ringed worm, which impels itself through and by the aid of its hundreds of flat, oar-like legs. Closer inspection reveals the startling fact that this seemingly single worm is really a multiple worm—six or more individuals being joined together, thus forming a living chain. This creature reproduces itself by fissigemation; that is, when the young worms arrive at a certain age they separate from the parent worm and begin life as individuals. ”

“ The long white worm (lumbricus teres) much resembling the common earth-worm, and, being from six to ten inches long, inhabits the small intestines. It is a formidable looking animal, and if there are many of them, they may consume more than can be spared of the nutritive part of the food, or the mucus of the bowels; and we think that we have seen a tight skin, and rough coat, and tucked up belly, connected with their presence. ”

“ It takes a worm by one extremity in its beak, and beats it on the ground till the inner part comes away. Then seizing it in a similar manner by the other end, it entirely cleanses the outer part, which alone it eats. ”

“ When the worm hatches, it enters the wood and traverses it longitudinally until it is ready to assume the mature or beetle state, when it comes to the surface and makes its escape. These worms will frequently riddle an entire branch and even enter the trunk. The apertures that the beetle makes for the laying of its eggs are so small—more minute than the head of a pin—that discovery and probing for the worm with a fine wire is not as fruitful of results as has been claimed. ”

“ It has eight setææ just as our common species have, but they are separate, and not in couples. There is no gizzard, nor does the lip dovetail into the segment behind. It is a small, transparent, rose-coloured worm, and decidedly phosphorescent. ”

“ and the second Mrs. Helstone, inversing the natural order of insect existence, would have fluttered through the honeymoon a bright, admired butterfly, and crawled the rest of her days a sordid, trampled worm. ”

“ When a worm first comes out of its burrow, it generally moves the much extended anterior extremity of its body from side to side in all directions, apparently as an organ of touch; and there is some reason to believe, as we shall see in the next chapter, that they are thus enabled to gain a general notion of the form of an object. Of all their senses that of touch, including in this term the perception of a vibration, seems much the most highly developed. ”