Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1916 — EARTHWORM PLAYS AT NIGHT [ARTICLE]

EARTHWORM PLAYS AT NIGHT

He Is All Stomach, and His Only Aim In Life Is to Eat, for He's Always Hungry. Midnight is the favorite play hour for earthworms. To catch a glimpse of them in the daytime, you’ll have to dig in the earth, which Is their home, or watch for them after a heavy rain, when they can be found on top of the ground. But go out any warm night with a lantern, lie close to the ground on a lawn or terrace and you’ll aee them in abundance, the Philadelphia North American says. Probably you’fe regarded the earthworm merely as ts good fish bait and have never taken the trouble to learn his habits. When he’s prowling around at night he’s usually enjoying a feast on decaying leaves, grasses or animal matter. Before daybreak he’s back In the ground, burrowing his way in search of more food. His alimentary canal extends from one tip of his body to the. other, so it’s little wonder he’s always hungry. He has neither ears nor eyes, yet he’s sensitive to light and he knows when night comes Just as other creatures with eyes. Another interesting fact is his method of laying eggs. He grows a band around his body like a belt, in whioh he deposits the eggs. Then he gradually works his way through this belt until he slips it off, when It closes up and forms a capsule to protect the eggs until they are hatched. Vegetable growers sometimes regard the earthworm as a nuisance. They should be thankful, however, that those of North America are not so large as those in South Africa, where there are earthworms four and five feet long and as thick as a man’s finger.