Earth- Worms in History. 49 



would seem, a circumstance which is perhaps owing to the 

 close proximity of the subjacent rocks, into which it is 

 impossible for them to burrow during the winter, so as to 

 escape being frozen. But there are some exceptions to this 

 rule, for they have been found at great altitudes in certain 

 parts of the world, and especially is this so in India, where 

 they have been observed to be quite numerous upon the 

 mountains. 



Though in one sense semi-aquatic animals, like the other 

 members of the great class of Annelids to which they belong, 

 yet it cannot be denied that earth-worms are terrestrial 

 creatures. Their exposure to the dry air of a room for a 

 single night proves fatal to them, while on the other hand 

 they have been kept alive for nearly four months completely 

 submerged in water. During the summer, when the ground 

 is dry, they penetrate to a great depth and cease to work, 

 just as they do in winter when the ground is frozen. They 

 are nocturnal in their habits, and may be seen crawling 

 about in large numbers at night, but generally with their 

 tails still inserted in their burrows. By the expansion of 

 this part of the body, and with the aid of the short reflexed 

 bristles with which they are armed inferiorly, they hold so 

 securely that they can seldom be withdrawn from the 

 ground without being torn in pieces. But during the day, 

 except at the time of pairing, when those which inhabit 

 adjoining burrows expose the greater part of their bodies 

 for an hour or two in the early morning, they remain in 

 their burrows. Sick individuals, whose illness is caused by 

 the parasitic larvae of a fly, must also be excepted, as they 

 wander about during the day and die on the surface. Aston- 

 ishing numbers of dead worms may sometimes be seen lying 

 on the ground after a heavy rain succeeding dry weather, no 

 less than a half-hundred in a space of a few square yards, 

 but these are doubtless worms that were already sick, 

 whose deaths were merely hastened by the ground being 

 flooded, for if they had been drowned it is probable, from 



