As worms have no teeth, and their mouths consist of very soft tissue, it may be presumed that they consume by means of suction of the edges and parenchyma of fresh leaves after they have been softened by the digestive fluid. They cannot attack such strong leaves as those of sea-kale or large and thick leaves of ivy. They not only seize leaves and other objects for purposes of food, but for plugging up the mouths of their burrows. Flower-peduncles, decayed twigs of trees, bits of paper, feathers, tufts of wool and horse-hair are some of the many things other than leaves that are dragged into their burrows for this purpose. Many hundred leaves of the pine-tree have been found drawn by their bases into burrows. Where fallen leaves are abundant, especially ordinary dicotyledonous leaves, many more than can be used are collected over the mouth of a burrow, so that a small pile of unused leaves is left like a roof over those which have been partly dragged in. A leaf in being dragged a little way into a cylindrical burrow necessarily becomes much folded or crumpled, and when another is drawn in, this is done exteriorly to the first, and so on with succeeding leaves, till finally they all become closely folded and pressed together. Sometimes the mouth of a burrow is enlarged, or a fresh one is made close by, so that a larger number of leaves may be drawn in. Generally the interstices between the drawn-in leaves are filled with moist, viscid earth ejected from their bodies, thus rendering them doubly secure. Hundreds of such plugged burrows may be seen during the autumnal and early winter months.