Page:The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881).djvu/137

 sandy earth of which they were formed still cohered with considerable tenacity.

The late Mr. John Scott of the Botanic Gardens near Calcutta made many observations for me on worms living under the hot and humid climate of Bengal. The castings abound almost everywhere, in jungles and in the open ground, to a greater degree, as he thinks, than in England. After the water has subsided from the flooded rice-fields, the whole surface very soon becomes studded with castings—a fact which much surprised Mr. Scott, as he did not know how long worms could survive beneath water. They cause much trouble in the Botanic garden, "for some of the finest of our lawns can be kept in anything like order only by being almost daily rolled; if left undisturbed for a few days they become studded with large castings." These closely resemble those described as abounding near Nice; and they are probably the work of a species of Perichæta. They stand up like towers, with an open passage in the centre.

A figure of one of these castings from a photograph is here given (Fig. 3). The