352 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



ments amidst the interlacing fibrous roots of the 

 close turf. In the hollow places between the hills, 

 where a deeper soil has been formed, the worms 

 attain to their full size all which goes to show 

 that chalk itself is not inimical to worms. In 

 heavy clays the appearance of the worms show that 

 the conditions are not favourable. 



Thus we see that earthworms are perpetually 

 invading and peopling all soils, good and bad ; 

 also that if you have a piece of hard ground barren 

 of food for worms and free of worms, where for 

 long years they have not been permitted to exist, 

 they will constantly flow in from all the surrounding 

 rich soils where worms abound and flourish in order 

 to get possession of it. The cause, I take it, is that 

 the earthworm abhors the soil frequented by other 

 worms, which is impregnated with the acid the 

 worm secretes and discharges into the soil. The 

 acid spoils the ground for him, and he prefers to go 

 outside into the most barren and unsuitable places 

 to remaining in it. And the perpetual desire 

 to get away and seek pastures new is the reason 

 of the wide distribution of the earthworm, of its 

 universality, so that there is not a clod on the 

 surface of the earth without a worm for inhabitant. 



Three or four days after witnessing the remark- 

 able phenomenon I described some pages back 

 the rush of hungry earthworms to secure a windfall 

 of leaves torn before their time from the trees and 

 consequently not well suited to their masticating 

 powers I paid a visit at a country-house a few miles 



