228 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



of which began to trouble the earthworms in 

 their retreats. Ages and ages passed and the 

 third great invasion occurred, which led on to 

 creatures like burrowing blind-worms, burrow- 

 ing slow-worms, and, long afterwards, burrow- 

 ing moles. And so, to cut a long story short, 

 the earthworms which once were so safe, 

 having discovered a new haunt, are among the 

 most persecuted of animals. So they have 

 become nocturnal. 



When one begins to count up, one finds that 

 the number of subterranean animals is much 

 larger than one at first supposed. Mr. Edmund 

 Blunden had a fine vision of them when he 

 wrote his " Gods of the Earth Beneath" (The 

 Waggoner, and other Poems, 1920). 



" I am the god of things that burrow and creep, 

 Slow-worms and glow-worms, mould-warps working late 

 Emmets and lizards, hollow-haunting toads, 

 Adders and effets, ground-wasps ravenous : 

 After his kind the weasel does me homage, 

 And even surly badger and brown fox 

 Are faithful in a thousand things to me." 



CAVE ANIMALS 



The animals that live below the ground are 

 mostly of a strenuous nature. The mole, for 



