Chap. III., BEOUGHT UP BY WORMS. 163 



near Nice (Nos. 5 and 6 in the above table), 

 Dr. King often found five or six of them on 

 a square foot of surface ; and these, judging 

 from their average weight, would have 

 weighed together 7 J ounces ; so that the 

 weight of those on a square yard would 

 have been 4 lb. 3 J oz. Dr. King collected, 

 near the close of the year 1872, all the 

 castings which still retained their vermiform 

 shape, whether broken down or not, from a 

 square foot, in a place abounding with worms, 

 on the summit of a bank, where no castings 

 could have rolled down from above. These 

 castings must have been ejected, as he judged 

 from their appearance in reference to the 

 rainy and dry periods near Nice, within the 

 previous five or six months ; they weighed 

 9^oz., or 5 lb. 5joz. per square yard. After 

 an interval of four months, Dr. King collected 

 all the castings subsequently ejected on the 

 same square foot of surface, and they weighed 

 2^ oz., or 1 lb. 6^ oz. per square yard. 

 Therefore within about ten months, or we 

 will say for safety's sake within a year, 12 oz. 

 of castings were thrown up on this one 

 square foot, or 6 '75 pounds on the square 



