Chap. II. PKOTECTION OF THEIR BURROWS. 63 



question about food. A lady, who was in- 

 terested in the habits of worms, removed the 

 little heaps of stones from the mouths of 

 several burrows and cleared the surface of the 

 ground for some inches all round. She went 

 out on the following night with a lantern, 

 and saw the worms with their tails fixed in 

 their burrows, dragging the stones inwards 

 by the aid of their mouths, no doubt by 

 suction. "After two nights some of the 

 " holes had 8 or 9 small stones over 

 " them ; after four nights one had about 

 " 30, and another 34 stones."* One stone 

 which had been dragged over the gravel- walk 

 to the mouth of a burrow weighed two 

 ounces ; and this proves how strong worms 

 are. But they show greater strength in some- 

 times displacing stones in a well-trodden 

 gravel-walk ; that they do so, may be inferred 

 from the cavities left by the displaced stones 

 being exactly filled by those lying over the 

 mouths of adjoining burrows, as I have my- 

 self observed. 



Work of this kind is usually performed 



* An account of her observations is given in the * Gardeners' 

 Chronicle,' March 28th, 1868, p. 324. 



