Earth-Worms in Fitstory. 69 
looks as though it had passed through the intestines of 
worms, even where scarcely any castings are to be observed 
upon the surface. The upper crust is continually being 
eaten and ejected by them, thus aiding the fertility of the 
soil, as well as conveying water and air to the interior by 
the myriads of burrows which they drill. The vast quan- 
tities of leaves that they drag into their holes tend also to 
enrich the ground. Nor does their good end here. They 
cover up seeds, undermine rocks, burying them up, and to 
their labors is due the preservation of many ruins and 
ancient works of art. Numerous old-time Roman villas 
have been discovered beneath the ground in England, whose 
entombments were undoubtedly caused by the worms that 
undermined them and deposited their castings upon the 
floors, till finally, aided by other causes, they disappeared 
from sight. 
When a wide, turf-covered expanse of earth is beheld, we 
would do well to remember that its smoothness, upon which 
so much of its beauty depends, is largely due to all the 
inequalities having been slowly levelled by worms. That all 
the surface-mould of any such expanse has passed, and will 
again pass, every few years through the bodies of worms is 
a marvellous reflection, and one which should not be lightly 
dismissed from the mind. The most ancient, as well as one 
of the most valuable of man’s inventions, is the plough. But 
long before man existed the land was in fact regularly 
ploughed, and still continues to be ploughed, by earth-worms. 
No other animal has played such a part in history as have 
these lowly-organized creatures. True it is that corals, 
which are still lower in the scale of animals, have performed 
more conspicuous work in the innumerable reefs and isiands 
they have built in the great oceans, but their work is con- 
fined to the tropical zones, while that of the earth-worm is 
well-nigh universal. Verily it is by the little things in life 
that the Creator has erected the most stupendous monu- 
ments to show forth His infinite power and wisdom. 
