Judy Trivin, age 12* of Victoria, B. C.0

Does a cut earthworm become two worms?

A penguin is far more highly developed than a starfish$ the noble horse is far superior to/salamander and all of us tend to look down upon the humble earthworm, But in nature there are often compensations for the small and simple creatures, When a fish bites off the penguin's foot, the big fat bird must limp around for the rest of his life. And, sad to says when a horse breaks his delicate leg, we often have to shoot him,

When a little starfish loses an arm., however, he simply grows a new one. A 1izard can grow a new tail and so can a salamander. And the humble earth worm can do even better, If he is cut in two at just the right place, he can grow a new tail and a new head. In this case one worm becomes two worms,

Some of Andy’s readers have watched this miracle in biology class, But many adults disapprove of young people experimenting with living animals. There is much to be said for their idea, especially when it comes to the lovable higher animals, But Mr. Pinky is a very simple creature with a very simple nervous system. Even so, this experiment should be done only under the guidance of your science teacher or some other expert,

First, of course, we learn all we can about how the earthworm lives his humble life. This fascinating occupation can take years and whole books have been written about it. We study the little pink body, The worm is an annelid animal, a. member of the phylum Annelidas the ringed ones. His rings are the segments which girdle his body from tip to tip.

For the operation to be a success, we must count the segments, beginning at the head. The cut may be made arqwhere between the fifth segment and the‑eighteenth segment. The little annelid is now in two parts, a state of affairs which would prove fatal to any of the higher„ more complex animals.

But the worm will survive, The two cut surfaces will seal themselves with new tissue and begin to grow, The front half will grow a new tail, Five or more segments will squeeze in between the tip and the rest of the body, The tail end grows five segments which become a head, We now have two worms, though if too many segments are lost in the operation, they may be somewhat shorter than the original worm,

If the surgeon was clumsy and cut behind the 18th segment, the operation is only half successful. The head end soon sprouts a new tail, so the original worm is not lost, But the short tail end is doomed to failure. It starts to grow new segments, but for some reason it cannot grow new head segments.

Instead of a now head, this poor little tail section grows another tail. It becomes a two‑tailed worm with no head, The poor creature cannot eat and soon wastes away from lack of nourishment, The head section will grow a new tail no matter where the worm is cut. But growing a new head seems to be harder.