Vegetable Soil . 
1882.J 
385 
in connection with the walls of the prehistoric structures in 
Ireland. 
As yet I have seen nothing that will explain the excep- 
tional deep burrowing of worms, also where they come from. 
Often in deep soils, apparently favourable for worm-work, 
you will not find a worm or the trace of a worm ; while at 
other times, at great depths, you will find them in stuff that 
you would think they would not burrow in. Bury vegetable 
or animal matter, and as a general rule it will breed worms, 
but sometimes it will not. Bury horse stable manure, the 
horses having been fed on hard dry food, and until it is per- 
fectly rotten there will be no worms in it ; while bury cow- 
house manure, even under clay well tamped down, and in a 
short time it will be full of worms, while not a trace of them 
can be seen on the surface of the ground. Brandlings are a 
peculiar worm thought much of by fishermen : I am not a 
fisherman, but some of my youngsters are, and they have 
colonies of brandlings in heaps of manure, out of which they 
do not seem to stir. (Note, p. 387). These worms do not appear 
to be generally distributed, yet in the spring of the year, if you 
go into old turnip land, or the like, and dig under the heaps of 
turnip-tops or weeds, you are sure to get some. Where do 
they come from, because at other times they will not be 
found ? 
Put in a trench layers of cow-manure, and layers of clay 
or rubbish, such as broken up old lime or ashes, and after a 
time in the manure you will find lots of worms, but none in 
the intervening layers. Similarly, in excavations in old 
ruins, if you find worms they are in the layers of decayed 
vegetable or animal matter, and not in the other stuffs. But 
often, even in the favourable matter, none may be found when 
it is first dug into ; you may be digging for a day, and only 
one or two be turned out, they being so rare that the work- 
men always remark any that are found. I have also seen 
some of these explorers got at great depths in callow land, 
greatly to the astonishment of the men, who cut them up 
into little bits suspecting them to be a “paisteens,” or some- 
thing else “ not right.” Some worms go to great depths, 
which must be allowed by all who have studied them ; yet 
these deep explorers are so few and rare that what work 
they could do would not be appreciable in millions of years. 
Although it has been already mentioned, I may again refer 
to the worms found in excavations after they are opened , as 
Mr. Ferrer’s notes, quoted by Mr. Darwin, seem to confirm 
my observations, the number of worm casts in his excava- 
tions appearing in conformity with the changes of the 
