266 THE WOODLANDS. 



in depth from a few inches to upwards of four feet, 

 and have two, or occasionally several, apertures, of 

 which one is the vent, whence they eject those 

 vermicular pellets of earth that have passed through 

 the intestine, and are in fact moulded and fashioned 

 within it." 



Wishing to burrow, and having selected a soft, 

 moist earth, the worm stretches forward the anterior 

 portion of its body and stiffens it. It now pouts out 

 the upper lip, and rendering it, too, tense and elastic, 

 the worm pushes it under the soil or clod, raises it 

 and casts it aside; then again it digs and loosens 

 another portion of the earth, until, by many repeti- 

 tions and much patience, the tunnel is insensibly 

 yet speedily completed. As the worm swallows the 

 greater proportion of the soil raised in the progress of 

 the work, nature has furnished it with no instruments 

 for the removal of the obstacle, such as have been 

 given to many other boring insects. 



Their favourite residence is a recent vegetable 

 mould heap, the under side of a flat stone in damp 

 situations, and the earth immediately below half-dried 

 cow-dung. It deposits its eggs in capsules at a con- 

 siderable depth in the soil. 



Gardeners and farmers express their detestation of 

 worms, and yet even worms have a mission which 

 gardeners and farmers fail to comprehend. 



