EARTH-WORM. 301 



ditches, the slightest touch is sufficient to cause the 

 body to separate into pieces. 



EARTH-WORM.* 



IN the month of November 1842, my nephew 

 found a hole, in a waste piece of garden-ground, 

 similar to, but rather larger than, a rat's hole ; it pene- 

 trated three feet into the soil in a slanting direction, 

 and at the extremity, about nine inches from the sur- 

 face, a quantity of large earth-worms were disco- 

 vered, about as many as could be held in both hands. 

 Some of the worms were alive ; but others were 

 dead, and appeared as if they had been bitten in two f 

 There were also, with the worms, a small collection 

 of dead leaves, forming a kind of nest. 



Query, whether these worms had been stored up 

 by moles to serve for their winter's provision ;f or 

 whether, from the circumstance of the long hole 

 leading to the deposit from the surface of the 

 ground, it be not more probable that they were 

 amassed by some other animal ? 



White has remarked that " earth-worms make their 

 casts most in mild weather about March and April." 

 These casts, however, are found at all seasons : I 

 observe that even throughout the winter, if there be 

 no frost, they reappear as often as the lawn is swept. J 



* Lumbricus terrestris, Linn. 



t Mr. Jesse has mentioned, on the authority of a mole-catcher, 

 that moles are in the habit of laying up worms in this manner 

 before winter sets in. Gleanings (2nd series), p. 26. 



J I may take this opportunity of drawing the attention of 



