Although in the north the raven frequents the seacoast and villages, from Pennsylvania southward it is entirely a mountain bird, usually living above 3,000 feet. From these heights the birds sometimes descend to the valleys, or even the islands along the coast, to forage among the colonies of sea birds. Most of them prefer to dwell among rocks and resort to perpendicular cliffs and to escarpments thrust above forests on the flanks of mountains.
Worms With Hypodermic Needles
Despite their microscopic size, nematodes (soil worms), are highly organized animals. They have muscles, quite specialized organs for feeding, a digestive system, a nervous system with a brain, and a well-developed reproductive system. Sexes are clearly differentiated. The creatures have evolved a long way from the primeval worm.
Eggs may be deposited in the soil, or in the plant on which the nematode feeds. In these eggs the immature forms, the larvae, develop and eventually hatch. If appropriate plants are available, they may begin to feed immediately. They develop through several distinct stages. At the end of each of these cycles a moult occurs.
Many of the forms which have been studied closely have a minimum life cycle, from egg to egg-laying female, of several days to several weeks. The maximum duration of life, however, may be much longer, since sexual maturity is not reached until the nematode begins to feed on the living plant. Up to this time it remains in the larval stage and lives on a reserve food supply originally derived from the egg. The time this reserve lasts depends on circumstances. In damp, warm soil the nematode will be very active and use it up in a few weeks. In cool or dry soil the supply lasts much longer, and can extend to many years.
The little worm’s life is a perpetual struggle for existence. It has many enemies in the soil—insects, fungi, and other free-living nematodes. Certain of the soil fungi have “traps” especially designed to catch nematodes. Some of these are shaped like loops which are pulled tight as the worm starts to crawl through. Others are sticky surfaces on which the victims are captured, like flies on flypaper. In either case, the fungus grows into the body of the worm and kills it.
Nevertheless, the nematode population is never in any great danger of extermination. A single female root knot nematode will produce about 300 eggs in a couple of weeks. Allowing four weeks for a generation, and assuming half the offspring are females, this implies a theoretically possible fifty trillion individuals at the end of the four generations of a single summer.
Practically all roots are attacked by some kind of nematode, but many species appear to specialize on one type of plant and will not touch a different variety, even if no other food is available. Plants immune to one species may be highly susceptible to some other. A few kinds of these worms, however, appear to eat almost anything they can find underground.
All the root-eaters have a feeding organ which is much like a hypodermic needle. This is pushed into the tissue and, it is believed, a digestive juice of some sort is injected. This liquifies and partially digests the food. Then the nematode sucks it through the needle into its mouth.
The largest of the nematodes, a parasite of whales, can reach a length of 27 feet. The smallest, a marine form, is a little more than a three-thousandth of an inch long.