indifferent to my breath, as long as I breathed on them very
gently. This was tried, because it appeared possible that they
might thus be warned of the approach of an enemy. They exhibited
the same indifference to my breath whilst I chewed some tobacco,
and while a pellet of cotton-wool with a few drops of millefleurs
perfume or of acetic acid was kept in my mouth. Pellets of cotton-
wool soaked in tobacco juice, in millefleurs perfume, and in
paraffin, were held with pincers and were waved about within two or
three inches of several worms, but they took no notice. On one or
two occasions, however, when acetic acid had been placed on the
pellets, the worms appeared a little uneasy, and this was probably
due to the irritation of their skins. The perception of such
unnatural odours would be of no service to worms; and as such timid
creatures would almost certainly exhibit some signs of any new
impression, we may conclude that they did not perceive these
odours.

The result was different when cabbage-leaves and pieces of onion
were employed, both of which are devoured with much relish by
worms. Small square pieces of fresh and half-decayed cabbage-
leaves and of onion bulbs were on nine occasions buried in my pots,
beneath about 0.25 of an inch of common garden soil; and they were
always discovered by the worms. One bit of cabbage was discovered
and removed in the course of two hours; three were removed by the
next morning, that is, after a single night; two others after two
nights; and the seventh bit after three nights. Two pieces of
onion were discovered and removed after three nights. Bits of
fresh raw meat, of which worms are very fond, were buried, and were
not discovered within forty-eight hours, during which time they had
not become putrid. The earth above the various buried objects was