New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-25
TIE BOOKWORM'S TAIL.
ONE END OF A RARE ANIMAL EAhini
HE IS FROM VIRGINIA AND 10 HI
,7zcrrr TO LIVE FOREVER

prCrED TO LIVE FORENEr~
na costlv beast has appeared IN New
wi for the first time In ten years - -. o,a
t gunner who is authority TOT MS 90
yalue The animal Is oook"o'N nv. ,..nsr
., Isaac Mendoza, Of No. II Ann-s' nc ~. :,
10 i' ST. g., charge Of him yesterday sald ina. II
49, zen wears since one had been captureo go ano
IN New-York and that that one was SUI ~ So
~ was not likely he said, that TINS ono 80 =,
ia ~ anv price Mr.. Mendoza was 100 !ohu VI
him There was talk Of getting MIN So -
and making him a household pet In inc -
., no can do iust as he likes with the tniro VOL
80 =, the Memoir Correspondence ana Ni'eco
,an,es from the Writings OF Ihomas 'euei'o'
where he lives II he spells the book ana 'neleu'
spoils the SET which is rare. he Is we'coe i0' "7
is rarer than the books. ., ..
Tribune reporter was permitted yesterday 70
noo +ho bookworu's tail He was some half or two
,birds Of the way through the book, on his jour
nov from the front cover to the back lie was heep-
ing near the binding. He had made that oisla'oo'
u was said since he arrived in New-lorK' ohis ."o
DAYS before There were evidences Nhat ie 'l"'
already been twice through the book he pores
hole OF his own size TIL he comes to the cover ana
+bor no strols about boring few communicating
Messages along the fly leaves He soon tires or tnis
apparently and goes back TO the pinuins anu cats
his way through the book again.
when ne Is TO be exhibited the keeper tenderly
onsns the book at the beginning. finds the tunnel
tho pages with great care, still watching the tuh-
nel tiIl the worms tail appears in sight The sight
soer has 10 be content with that. Not for the
world would the keeper 60 on turning the leaves
much less let anybody else. TO come to the head lest
tho worm should be broken In two But he says
that the worm is about quarter OF an inch long,
He Is white and has brown spot on his tail.
What puzzles the keeper is how he got into the
hook II was suggested that a worm OF that sort
was usually the larva OF some insect and that the
insect might have found fitting opportunity to lay
an egg in the book The keeper would not hear
Of such thing This worm he said. was not the
larva of anything: he was complete In himself; his
tribe did not lay eggs or hatch out OF eggs When
the worst was known II was evident that the keeper
believed in spontaneous generation. He said that.
rara n bookworms were there were seventy-two
different kinds OF them. II they all created in
the way that ne believes there seems to be no
reason why there should not be as many kinds as
there are worms. Another thing that troubled him
was that the worm had had nothing to drink since
he came to New York. and he did not know what
he ought TO have. But his admiration re-
awakened by the fact that the worm had just come
from Virginia by and had not been injured by
the voyage. The keeper expects the worm TO live
forever since perpetuaton being the law of Nature
and the worm having no way OF propagating his
species he must stay alive and attend 10 the per-
petuation himself