332 Vegetable Soil. [June, 
table Mould and Earth Worms,” he does not refer to any of 
the fadts therein stated. 
It appears unnecessary in this paper to repeat the fadts 
already published in the writing above referred to, but it 
may be allowable to record fadts since collected, especially 
those that bear on some of Dr. Darwin’s statements, and to 
comment on some of the latter. 
From my observations it would appear that the Irish 
worms are not all the year round workers. They generally 
begin their main work in September and work up to March 
or April in wet, soft weather, as frost or the like completely 
stops them. In March and April as a general rule they do 
very little surface work, while in April, May, June, July, and 
August they seem to be principally employed, if there is rain, 
in migrating from one place to another. But if it is dry, as 
is not uncommon in May and June, they retire to the 
deepest part of their burrows, coil themselves up, and go to 
sleep until the heavy showers of July come on, which pene- 
trate down to them and gives them new life. The migration 
is not, however, confined to the summer months, as between 
September and April, during soft warm rains, they migrate 
considerably ; to this, however, we will have to return here- 
after. 
These general remarks refer to the worms in the open, 
because in some enclosed damp place, such as walks under 
trees, court yards, passages, and the like, they appear to be 
at work oftener than elsewhere ; but I do not believe that in 
any place they work all the year round , and any calculations 
based on such a supposition must be more or less errone- 
ous. 
The interest Dr. Darwin has taken in the earth worms 
seems to have prevented him observing what other animals, 
especially the ants, can do ; and what appears very remark- 
able, in the writings of such an eminent and acute observer, 
he apportions to the worms, as will be afterwards mentioned, 
work that evidently was done by ants. Ants in Ireland.work 
for about five months in the year, and during that time a 
colony of even the smallest kinds heap up a considerable 
amount of soil, while some other kinds make conspicuous 
hillocks ; their work, however, is a mere bagatelle to the 
hills raised by some of the foreign ants. It must, however, 
be allowed that as the ants usually work during the time 
when grass and other herbs are growing, the work done is 
consolidated and kept together, and the full amount of work 
done is thus recorded ; while earth worms only work in wet 
weather, at times when vegetation is slack, and consequently 
