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different moors contain these worms. There 

 may be as many as 10,000 in round numbers 

 in one grouse, about equally divided between 

 the true caeca. Each female worm lays hun- 

 dreds of eggs, which are constantly passing 

 out of the bird's body and lie scattered all over 

 Scotland. These eggs give rise to larvae 

 in about two days, the larvae surround them- 

 selves about the eighth day with a capsule or 

 cyst, and undergo " a rest cure." After a 

 period of quiescence they quickly change into 

 a second and active larval form, which in wet 

 weather a not unusual atmospheric condition 

 in Northern Britain writhe and wriggle and 

 creep and crawl until they attain the stem and 

 the leaves and the flowers of the heather. 

 Here these larvae wait patiently until a grouse 

 consumes them with the heather tips, and 

 then, once inside the alimentary canal, they 

 become adult, make their way to the caeca, 

 and in four days ripe eggs are again infesting 

 the moors. 



It is recorded that Prince Bismarck once 

 said to Lady Randolph Churchill, " Have you 

 ever sat on the grass and examined it closely ? 

 There is enough life in one square yard to appal 

 you." 



It has always seemed to me a strange thing 

 for the Prince to have said. To begin with, 

 throughout his long life he had shown but 

 an imperfect sympathy with the lower -Inverte- 

 brata, and then, again, he was a man not easily 

 appalled : but the saying is perfectly true. 

 It is difficult for the layman to grasp what is 

 going on in and on the soil and on the plants 

 which it supports. Suppose we could by 

 means of a gigantic lens magnify a square 

 yard of a grouse moor one hundred times. The 



