178 BURIAL OF THE REMAINS Chap. IV. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE PART WHICH WORMS HAVE PLAYED IN 

 THE BURIAL OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. 



The accumulation of rubbish on the sites of great cities inde- 

 pendent of the action of worms— The burial of a Roman villa 

 at Abinger — The floors and walls penetrated by worms — 

 Subsidence of a modern pavement — The buried pavement at 

 Beaulieu Abbey — Roman villas at Ched worth and Brading — 

 The remains of the Roman town at Silchester — The nature of 

 the debris by which the remains are covered — The penetration 

 of the tesselated floors and walls by worms — Subsidence of 

 the floors — Thickness of the mould — The old Roman city of 

 Wroxeter — Thickness of the mould — Depth of the foundations 

 of some of the Buildings — Conclusion. 



Archaeologists are probably not aware how 

 much they owe to worms for the preservation 

 of many ancient objects. Coins, gold orna- 

 ments, stone implements, &c, if dropped on 

 the surface of the ground, will infallibly be 

 buried by the castings of worms in a few 

 years, and will thus be safely preserved, until 

 the land at some future time is turned up. 

 For instance, many years ago a grass-field 



