ii6 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



Darwin, as described by Professor Bell in afoot-note to his edition (p. 202): 

 " The important functions performed by earth-worms so sensibly suggested in the 

 text formed the subject of an elaborate and interesting paper by Mr. Darwin, 

 which was published in the ' Transactions ' of the Geological Society (Ser. 2, vol. 

 v. p. 505), in which he shows that these despised creatures are instrumental in 

 comminuting the soil, and producing a superficial bed above the previous surface, 

 and forming a layer of mould perfectly prepared for vegetable growth. The rate 

 at which this layer of new soil is formed may be guessed at from some of the facts 

 stated by Mr. Darwin. In one case, in a field which had been reclaimed from 

 waste land, 3 inches depth of mould had been prepared by the worms in 1 5 years ; 

 and in another, within a period of less than 80 years, the earth-worms covered the 

 marl with a bed of earth of no less than 12 or 13 inches." [R. B. S.] 



NOTE. In the Barrington Letters in the British Museum is one dated 

 "Selborne, June 13, 1777," which opens thus: "Dear Sir, not being at all 

 aware of the great honours befalling my silk-wood desom, I was somewhat 

 astonished to hear that it should be thought worthy of the Leverian Museum^ 

 but I was not at all surprised to find that you received my humble present with 

 your usual affability and complacency." The rest of the letter consists of the 

 notes on the Swifts given in Letter XXXIX, and the account of the nest of the 

 Harvest Mouse which White transferred to his Letter XII to Pennant (see vol. 

 i. p. 45). [R. B. S.] 



1 See foot-note to p. 96, antea. [R. B. S.] 



