Alfred Russel Wallace 



NtUwood Cottage, Frith Hill, Godalming. October 18, 1881. 



My dear Darwin, — I have delayed writing to thank you 

 for your book on Worms till I had been able to read it, 

 which I have now done with great pleasure and profit, 

 since it has cleared up many obscure points as to the 

 apparent sinking or burying of objects on the surface and 

 the universal covering up of old buildings. I have hitherto 

 looked upon them chiefly from the gardener's point of view 

 — as a nuisance, but I shall tolerate their presence in the 

 view of their utility and importance. A friend here to 

 Avhom I am going to lend your book tells me that an 

 agriculturist who had been in West Australia, near Swan 

 River, told him many years ago of the hopelessness of 

 farming there, illustrating the poverty and dryness of the 

 soil by saying, ** There are no worms in the ground." 



I do not see tbat you refer to the formation of leaf- 

 mould by the mere decay of leaves, etc. In favourable 

 places many inches or even feet of this is formed — I pre- 

 sume without the agency of worms. If so, w^ould it not 

 take part in the formation of all mould ? and also the 

 decay of the roots of grasses and of all annual plants, or 

 do you suppose that all these are devoured by worms ? In 

 reading the book I have not noticed a single erratum. 



I enclose you a copy of two letters to the Mark Lane 

 Express, written at the request of the editor, and which 

 will show you the direction in which I am now working, 

 and in which I hope to do a little good. — Believe me yours 

 very faithfully, Alfred R. Wallace. 



Printed by Casseu. & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. 



F15.316 



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