THE A. B. C. OF THINGS.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 14, 18 June 1920, Page 3

THE A. B. C. OF THINGS.

By Leo Walmsley.

NATURE'S PIOUGHMAN. THE STORY OF AN EARTHWORM.

We humans pride ourselves on our reasoning powers, and on our keen ' sense of justice; it is one of the principles of our philosophy that beauty is only skin deep, that the vilest and most hideous exterior may hide a heart of purest gold, and yet just because of its "nasty creepy crawliness" the earthworm is almost universally regarded with loathing and contempt. Nothing as a matter of fact, could be more unreasonable or unjust, for it is doubtful whether any animal has played so importaat a part in the world 's history as this humble creature. THE FIRST AGRICULTURIST. Long before the advent of man on this old world of ours, the worm was the first agriculturist. It was lxe who tilled the ground so that the great "coal" forests might grow in such luxuriance : it was he who mined and tunnelled under the first stars and grass-land cast up the hani lifeless earth so that it might drink of the invigorating air and sunshine and charge itself with vital plant goods. It is he who, since time immemorable, has beer. the faithful slave and ..untiring assistant of mankind and civilization. He is Nature's own ploaghman, but he has done more real hard graft in his time than all the ploughshares ever forged. HIS METHOD. Of course, the worm does not set out to work with the -sole object of helping the fari&er, it is doubtful whether it even occurs to him that he is helping someone else. What he is after when he bores his way through the ground, naturally enough, is food, particles of which are extracted from the earth. He does not possess any special boring apparatus, but he can make the skin £hat surrounds the fiont part of his mouth so thin that it easily moves along through the ground. The body of the animal is literally a tube, and as the earth passes through the latter is twisted about and chewed by various organs, it is treated with a special juioe to neutralize the strong organic acid it contains, the food particles are ansorbed, and then it is expelled, in the shape of a worm-like casting, at the surface of the ground. This process goes on day and night without ceasing, and in time the whole layer of earth that was originally a foot or more below the snrface is brought to the top and. exposed to the beneticent action of air, frost, and sunshine. DARWIN'S BOOK. Charles Darwin, who wrote a whole hook about the earthworm, calculated that on every acre of land in England more than ten tons of earth are passed through the bodies of worms and brought to the surface every year, and that the whole soil of the country must pass and repass through their bodies every few years. "When we behold a wide, turf-covered expanse," this great scientist wrote, "we should remember that its smoothness, on which so much of its beauty depends, is mainly due to all the inequalities having beer slowly levelled by worms." Many people imagine that the worm comes of. the very lowest order of animals. "Ra structure is so simple," they say, "that if you cut one in two each half is perfectly happy without the other and becomes a complete worm in time." This reminds me of the little German boy who deliberately chopped a worm Into two. "What for did you do that, Fritz?" cried his kinder hearted parent. "Why," replied the yoimg hopeful, "I thought he was lonely." NERVES OF A WORM. As a matter of fact, the belief that the worm is so low down as that is totally erroneous. The earthworm possesses not only a heart and blood circulation, but also a complicated nervous system and a primitive type of brain. Iu moves bj means of numbers of small stiff spikes jutting out from the lower part of its bhdy and which may easily be felt by the hand. These serve to gxip the earth while the muscular body is elongated or contracted like a concertina. There are no eyes, ears, or organs of smell such as we know tbem, but that the animal possesses some definite organ of sense is obvious. from the fact that it is sensitive to light. Neither is there any breathing apparatus, for the skin is so thin that the vital gases of the air pass through to the blood without hindrance. REPRODUCES ITSELF. The reproduction of the earthworm is a very complicated affair. Like the snail, it is hermaphrodite, that is to say , the

sexes are- united in the same individual, each animal producing both the male and female elements necessary to reproduction. It cannot, however, fertilize its own eggs, but two worms can fertilize each other's. This is done directly as with some animals. Tha male sperms of one are merely stored in the body of the other until the unfertilized eggs are perfectly ripe. Then the lower part of the body secretes a cylindrical cocoon, the eggs are laid into it, and then a little farther on the spermatozoa which came originally from another worm are poured on to the eggs. THE FARMER' S FRIEND. The cocoon now closes up, and in time the eggs hatch out into young worms which quickly learn to wr-iggle and fend for themselves. Although it may be said without fear of contradiction that the worm is one of the best friends of the f armer, it is tohe feared that many farmers do not realize the fact and that th destroy without any discrimination anything of a wormlike appearance. As a matter of fact, the worms that really do damage to the crops, etc, are not worms at all, but the wormlike caterpillars of certain insects. One more reason why practical entomology shoul^ take a conspicnous part in the curriculum of all rural schools. As the -ari of life is learned, it will be found at last that all lovely things are also necessary ; the wild flower by the wayside, as well as the tended corn; and the wild birds and creatures of the forest, as well as the tended cattle : because man dcth not live by bread alone, but also - y the desert manna ; by every wondrous word and unknowable work of God. — John Ruskin.