228 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



beetles, both 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, burrowing slow-worms, and, 

 long afterwards, burrowing 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. Ed- 

 mund 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 



