Earth-Worms in History. 49 
would seem, a circumstance which is perhaps owing to the 
close proximity of the subjacent rocks, into which it is 
impossible for them to burrow during the winter, so as to 
escape being frozen. But there are some exceptions to this 
rule, for they have been found at great altitudes in certain 
parts of the world, and especially is this so in India, where 
they have been observed to be quite numerous upon the 
mountains. 
Though in one sense semi-aquatic animals, like the other 
members of the great class of Annelids to which they belong, 
yet it cannot be denied that earth-worms are terrestrial 
creatures. Their exposure to the dry air of a room fora 
single night proves fatal to them, while on the other hand 
they have been kept alive for nearly four months completely 
submerged in water. During the summer, when the ground 
is dry, they penetrate to a great depth and cease to work, 
just as they do in winter when the ground is frozen. They 
are nocturnal in their habits, and may be seen crawling 
about in large numbers at night, but generally with their 
tails still inserted in their burrows. By the expansion of 
this part of the body, and with the aid of the short reflexed 
bristles with which they are armed inferiorly, they hold so 
securely that they can seldom be withdrawn from the 
ground without being torn in pieces. But during the day, 
except at the time of pairing, when those which inhabit 
adjoining burrows expose the greater part of their bodies 
for an hour or two in the early morning, they remain in 
their burrows. Sick individuals, whose illness is caused by 
the parasitic larve of a fly, must also be excepted, as they 
wander about during the day and die on the surface. Aston- 
ishing numbers of dead worms may sometimes be seen lying 
on the ground after a heavy rain succeeding dry weather, no 
less than a half-hundred in a space of a few square yards, 
but these are doubtless worms that were already sick, 
whose deaths were merely hastened by the ground being 
flooded, for if they had been drowned it is probable, from 
