188 BURIAL OF THE REMAINS Chap. IY. 



near the surface. It is very improbable that 

 worms should have migrated from the adjoin- 

 ing field into the small space of the atrium, 

 after the superficial mould in which they 

 prefer to live, had been removed. We may 

 therefore conclude that the burrows and the 

 castings which were seen here during the 

 ensuing seven weeks were the work of the 

 former inhabitants of the space. I will now 

 give a few extracts from Mr. Farrer's notes. 



Aug. 26th, 1877 ; that is, Hve days after 

 the floor had been cleared. On the previous 

 night there had been some heavy rain, which 

 washed the surface clean, and now the mouths 

 of forty burrows were counted. Parts of the 

 concrete were seen to be solid, and had never 

 been penetrated by worms, and here the rain- 

 water lodged. 



Sept. 5th. — Tracks of worms, made during 

 the previous night, could be seen on the sur- 

 face of the floor, and five or six vermiform 

 castings had been thrown up. These were 

 defaced. 



Sept. 12th. — During the last six days, the 

 worms have not been active, though many 

 castings have been ejected in the neighbour- 



