164 WEIGHT OF EARTH CHAP. III. 



castings were dried (excepting in one specified 

 instance) by exposure during many days to 

 the sun or before a hot fire. 

 WEIGHT OF THE CASTINGS ACCUMULATED AT THE MOUTH 



OF A SINGLE BuBBOW. 



Ounces 



(1.) Down, Kent (sub-soil red clay, full of flints, over- 

 lying the chalk). The largest casting which I 

 could find on the flanks of a steep valley, the 3 '98 

 sub-soil being here shallow. In this one case, the 

 casting was not well dried 



(2.) Down. Largest casting which I could find (con-] 

 sisting chiefly of calcareous matter), on extremely I -3.07 

 poor pasture land at the bottom of the valley! 

 mentioned under (1.) .. .. .. ..' 



(3.) Down. A large casting, but not of unusual size,) 



from a nearly level field, poor pasture, laid down in / 1 * 22 

 grass about 35 years before . . . . . . . . ) 



(4.) Down. Average weight of 11 not large castings j 



ejected on a sloping surface on my lawn, after they! Q - 

 had suffered some loss of weight from being exposed j 

 during a considerable length of time to rain . . J 



(5.) Near Nice in France. Average weight of 12' 

 castings of ordinary dimensions, collected by Dr. 

 King on land which had not been mown for a long 

 time and where worms abounded, viz., a lawn pro- 

 tected by shrubberies, near the sea ; soil sandy and 1*37 

 calcareous ; these castings had been exposed for some 

 time to rain, before being collected, and must have 

 lost some weight by disintegration, but they still re- 

 tained their form 



(6.) The heaviest of the above twelve castings .. 1*76 



'7.) Lower Bengal. Average weight of 22 castings, 

 collected by Mr. J. Scott, and stated by him to have 1 24 

 been thrown up in the course of one or two nights 



(8.) The heaviest of the above 22 castings .. .. 2'09 



(9.) Nilgiri Mountains, S. India ; average weight of-j 



the 5 largest castings collected by Dr. King. They! 3>15 

 had been exposed to the rain of the last monsoon, j 

 and must have lost some weight .. .. .. J 



(10.) The heaviest of the above 5 castings .. .. 4-34 



In thi& table we see that castings which had 



