164 



WEIGHT OF EAETH 



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 BURROW. 



(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 

 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 

 poor pasture land at the bottom of the valley j 

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



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

 from a nearly level field, poor pasture, laid down in > 

 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 I 

 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 

 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 



(7.) Lower Bengal. — Average weight of 22 castings,! 

 collected by Mr. J. Scotland stated by him to havev 

 been thrown up in the course of one or two nights | 



(8.) The heaviest of the above 22 castings .. 



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

 the 5 largest castings collected by Dr. King. They 

 had been exposed to the rain of the last monsoon, 

 and must have lost some weight .. 



(10.) The heaviest of the above 5 castings 



Ounces. 



3-98 



3-87 

 1-22 

 0-7 



1-37 



1-76 

 1-24 

 2*09 



3*15 



4-34 



In this table we see that castings which had 



