CHAP. II. THEIR WIDE DISTRIBUTION. 125 



:sandy earth of which they were formed still 

 cohered with considerable tenacity. 



The late Mr. John Scott of the Botanic 

 Gardens near Calcutta made many observa- 

 tions for me 011 worms living under the hot 

 ;and humid climate of Bengal. The castings 

 abound almost everywhere, in jungles and in 

 the open ground, to a greater degree, as he 

 thinks, than in England. After the water 

 has subsided from the flooded rice-fields, the 

 whole surface very soon becomes studded with 

 castings a fact which much surprised Mr, 

 :Scott, as he did not know how long worms 

 could survive beneath water. They cause 

 much trouble in the Botanic garden, "for 

 '" some of the finest of our lawns can be kept 

 " in anything like order only by being almost 

 " daily rolled ; if left undisturbed for a few days 

 ** they become studded with large castings." 

 These closely resemble those described as 

 abounding near Nice ; and they are probably 

 the work of a species of Perichasta. They 

 .stand up like towers, with an open passage in 

 the centre. 



A figure of one of these castings from a 

 photograph is here given (Fig. 3). The 



