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We assume that worms multiply the same way we all do, by using the calculator function on their Palm Pilots. Of course, if you're wondering how they reproduce, that's an entirely different story, and in order to explain it, we'll need to tackle your second question. It seems that worms are, in fact, hermaphrodites. They possess both male and female sexual organs. We learned this at a site dedicated to Manhattan's Upper West Side, of all places. NYSite's "The City Naturalist" provides information on all sorts of creatures you might find in and around Central Park, not the least of which is the humble earthworm. The site goes on to describe the reproductive process in detail: "On warm, moist spring and summer nights,
you can often seen hundreds of mating worms coming up out of their burrows. Once they have mated, the girdle like ring around the front of an earthworm called the clitellum slides along the worm's body, picking up fertilized eggs. When it finally falls off the worm into the soil, it forms a well protected nest or egg case within which the embryo worms develop." For a video of a hatching worm embryo, head down the Information Turnpike to Discovery.com's Worm World. There, Wendell Worm, your amiable host, offers a veritable compost heap of worm-related goodies, including games, artwork, scientific diagrams, and interviews with several of his invertebrate pals.
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