120 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



covered an earth-worm quite alive in 

 the mud at the bottom. Had he been 

 there during the weeks of the plant's 

 growth, or had he just fallen in ? Had he 

 climbed the rockery, among the cacti, to 

 reach the water; was he trying to drink, 

 or had Reginald McGonigle tossed him in 

 during an unbidden visit ? One of these 

 worms, dropped from a flower-pot, was 

 found on the leaf of a pitcher-plant. His 

 surprise and bewilderment were betokened 

 by questioning ventures this way and that. 



And as we have rotations in crops and 

 weeds, so I find rotations of insects and 

 things. This year the wire-worm is about 

 in myriads, the wood-louse or sow-bug 

 outdoes his brethren of last year five to 

 one, the hard-shelled, swift- footed centi- 

 ped is turned up so deep in the earth that 

 I think he must use the holes of the angle- 

 worms to get there, and the thrip is more 

 plentiful on the roses. Next year it will 

 be tarantulas and megatheriums, maybe. 

 Reginald McGonigle is the only constancy. 



We begin to prize the autumn greenery, 

 and occasionally to put boxes or papers 



