OF S EL BORNE. 
217 
green corn. But thefe men would find that the earth without 
worms would foon become cold, hard-bound, and void of fermen- 
tation ; and confequently fteril : and befides, in favour of worms, 
it fhould be hinted that green corn, plants, and flowers, are not fo 
much injured by them as by many fpecies of coleoptera (fcarabs), and 
t'lpiil^ (long-legs) in their larva, or grub-ftate ; and by unnoticed 
myriads of fmall fliell-lefs fnails, called flugs, which fdently and 
imperceptibly make amazing havoc in the field and garden "^* 
Thefe hints we think proper to throw out in order to fet the in- 
quifitive and difcerning to work. 
A good monography of worms would afford much entertainment 
and information at the fame time, and would open a large and new 
field in natural hiflory. Worms work mofl in the fpring ; but by 
no means lie torpid in the dead months ; are out every mild night 
in the winter, as any perfon may be convinced that will take the 
pains to examine his grafs-plots with a candle ; are hermaphrodites^ 
and much addidled to venery, and confequently very prolific. 
I am, he. 
1 TaxvatT Young, of Norton-farm, fays that this fpring (1777) about four acres of his 
wheat in one field was entirely deftroyed by 7?«^/, which fwarmed on the blades of com, 
and devoured it as raft as it fprajig. 
Ff 
LETTER 
