# Darwin's Earthworm Studies



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Darwin's last major published work was a study of earthworms. Not only did he perform physical studies, he set up a series of experiments to see how earthworms react to stimuli. One of them involved the cooperation of his wife and son. Darwin's wife was a pianist trained by Chopin, and his son played the bassoon. Darwin's conclusions:

"Worms do not possess any sense of hearing. They took not the least notice of the shrill notes from a metal *whistle*, which was repeatedly sounded near them: nor did they of the deepest and loudest tones of a *bassoon*. They were indifferent to shouts, if care was taken that breath did not strike them. When placed on a table close to the keys of a *piano*, which was played as loudly as possible, they remained perfectly quiet."


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Earthworms are sensitive to vibrations - in the earth. Every nightcrawler collector knows this.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Darwin was careful not to introduce the worms to the vibrations of the instruments themselves, only the soundsof the instruments. A further excerpt:

"Although they are indifferent to undulations in the air audible to us, they are extremely sensitive to vibrations in any solid object. When the pots containing two worms which had remained quite indifferent to the sound of the piano, were placed on the instrument, and the note C in the bass clef was struck, both instantly retreated into their burrows. After a time they emerged, and when G above the line in the treble clef was struck they again retreated. Under similar circumstances on another night one worm dashed into its burrow on a very high note being struck only once, and the other worm when C in the treble clef was struck. On these occasions the worms were not touching the sides of the pots, which stood in saucers; so that the vibrations, before reaching their bodies, had to pass from the sounding board of the piano, through the saucer, the bottom of the pot and the damp, not very compact earth on which they lay with their tails in their burrows. They often showed their sensitiveness when the pot in which they lived, or the table on which the pot stood, was accidentally and lightly struck; but they appeared less sensitive to such jars than to the vibrations of the piano; and their sensitiveness to jars varied much at different times. It has often been said that if the ground is beaten or otherwise made to tremble, worms believe that they are pursued by a mole and leave their burrow. I beat the ground in many places where worms abounded, but none emerged. When, however, the ground is dug with a fork and is violently disturbed beneath a worm, it will often crawl quickly out of its borrow."

Darwin also tried shouting at the worms (HEY! WORM!!), but was careful not to let his breath strike the worms.

Charles Darwin was the first to discover that earthworms are actually beneficial to soil. Prior, they were viewed as pests.

Meanwhile:


> Ava Chase of the Rowland Institute at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has shown that carp can tell the difference between baroque music and John Lee Hooker, depressing a button with their snouts to indicate which is which (Animal Learning & Behavior, vol 29, p 336).


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

^^ LOL. Ah yes, snob elitist carp.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Darwin screamed at worms. Who do you trust, a guy who screams at worms, or JESUS?


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

I have a shoal of green tiger barbs in a fish tank at work, and a radio which sits on top of the tank. The fish don't seem to take any notice of the music which is playing. (They do have hearing, but they can only sense low frequencies). However, male tiger barbs sometimes engage in ritualized dominance battles which involve facing off nose to nose and spinning around in circles. Once I saw some of them doing this exactly in step with a waltz section of a Prokofiev symphony. (I don't remember which symphony it was). Although it was really just a coincidence, what it looked like was a natural ballet.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

And then of course there's the computer worm, which can be infinitely more resourceful.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

> Darwin's last major published work was a study of earthworms.


Clearly one of his more down to earth studies than the high faluting Origin o the Species


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Hilltroll72 said:


> ^^ LOL. Ah yes, snob elitist carp.


"In a categorization study, the fish learned to discriminate blues recordings from
classical, generalizing from John Lee Hooker (guitar and vocals) and Bach (oboe concertos)"

It doesn't actually say whether the fish preferred Bach to John Lee Hooker, but even if they did, who are you to pass judgement on their taste in music? 

Anyway, I don't actually think fish can enjoy music in the way we do, without anticipating a food reward. They can hear sounds and see colours, though, and (unlike any domestic cat I have ever known) some of the more intelligent species, such as the Paradise fish, _Macropodus opercularis_, are capable of watching television. (It's rather difficult to say whether this ability gives them any kind of evolutionary advantage).


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