Chap III. BROUGHT UP BY WORMS. 147 



von Haast has described * a section near the 

 coast, consisting' of mica-scliist, " covered by 

 "5 or 6 feet of loess, above which about 12 

 " inches of vegetable soil had accumulated." 

 Between the loess and the mould there was 

 a layer from 3 to 6 inches in thickness, 

 consisting of "cores, implements, flakes, and 

 *' chips, all manufactured from hard basaltic 

 " rock." It is therefore probable that the 

 aborigines, at some former period, had left 

 these objects on the surface, and that they 

 had afterwards been slowly covered np by 

 the castings of worms. 



Farmers in England are well aware that 

 objects of all kinds, left on the surface of 

 pasture-land, after a time disappear, or, as 

 they say, work themselves downwards. How 

 powdered lime, cinders, and heavy stones, 

 can work down, and at the same rate, 

 through the matted roots of a grass-covered 

 surface, is a question which has probably 

 never occurred to them."}" 



* 'Trans, of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii., 1880, p. 152. 



t Mr. Lin'lsay Carnagie, in a letter (June 1838) to Sir C Lyell, 

 remarks that Scotch farmers are afraid of putting lime on 

 ploughed land until just before it is laid down for pasture, from 

 a belief that it has some tendency to sink. He adds : " Some 



