202 
NATURE NOTES 
through its whalebone-fringed jaws, its mouth being closed 
during the operation. Darwin has estimated that earthworms, 
in some parts of England, turn over and pass through their 
bodies every year about ten tons of vegetable mould to the 
acre. The burrows that they make serve to drain the soil 
and, falling in, keep the mould moving, exposing thereby fresh 
surfaces to the action of the acids of the soil as' well as to the 
air. Their castings, too, when washed over the surface by the 
rains or blown about by the winds form a layer of rich soil. 
In forest regions these little ploughshares are seldom found, 
but Professor Drummond has suggested that the white ants 
may supply the want by their industry. These white ants, or 
termites, as they are called, have a terrible number of enemies 
ready to pounce upon them. Their food consists of dead vege- 
table matter, such as fallen branches and trees, which they 
riddle with galleries in such a manner as to cause the branch 
or tree to crumble to dust beneath any ordinary weight. 
To protect themselves, the ants carry up earth, not from 
the surface but from some depth underneath the ground, and 
plaster it into tunnelled ways. They climb trees for dead 
branches in the same manner, carrying their tunnels to the 
very tops of the trees and running them along the branches 
and twigs, causing the trunks and branches to have a very 
fantastically plastered appearance. 
The service which these minute workers render to the forest is 
immense. They are a living force, breaking down the largest 
trees that are wounded to death, and making room for others to 
take root and grow. The dust that these “ hewers of wood ” 
sprinkle upon the ground forms that rich brown humus so 
characteristic of the forest. 
Another humble tiller of the soil is the persecuted mole. 
This furry little gentleman dwells in runs or burrows, excavated 
with extraordinary skill and rapidity. In some parts these 
burrows are only a few inches beneath the earth’s surface, while 
in other places they are yards deep and many rods _ in length. 
In a single day the mole will make several yards of these runs, 
driving the soil before it by small portions for about six yards 
till it reaches the spot where it throws up its hillock. 
As a top-dresser the mole is scarcely to be surpassed. It 
enriches the pastures with a layer of earth, dug with incredible 
perseverance from the fattest of the soil beneath. If the mole 
does destroy the roots of vegetables, it is not for the purpose 
of devouring them, but to seek the worms, insects, and particu- 
larly insect larvae which they harbour. Immense havoc is made 
amongst the slugs, snails and caterpillars so detestable to the 
farmer. The mole is, in reality, the farmer’s friend and not 
the terrible enemy he is believed to be. 
Nature has many hirelings employed in ridding the helpless 
