three cubic centimeters. They were, therefore of small size in comparison with those often found in England; for six large castings from a field near my house averaged 16 cubic centimeters. Several species of earth-worms are common in St. Catharina in South Brazil, and Fritz Müller informs me "that in most parts of "the forests and pasture-lands, the whole soil, "to a depth of a quarter of a metre, looks as if it "had passed repeatedly through the intestines "of earth-worms, even where hardly any cast"ings are to be seen on the surface."

A

gigantic but very rare species is found there, the burrows of which are sometimes even two centimeters or nearly of an inch in diameter, and which apparently penetrate the ground to a great depth.

In the dry climate of New South Wales, I hardly expected that worms would be common; but Dr. G. Krefft of Sydney, to whom I applied, after making enquiries from gardeners and others, and from his own observations, informs me that their castings abound. He sent me some collected after heavy rain, and they consisted of little pellets, about 15 inch in diameter; and the blackened

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

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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 Perichata. 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

largest received by me was 3 inches in height and 135 inch in diameter; another

A tower-like casting, probably ejected by a species of Perichæta, from the Botanic Garden, Calcutta: of natural size, engraved from a photograph.

was only inch in diameter and 2 in height.

In the following year, Mr. Scott measured several of the largest; one was 6 inches in height and nearly 1 in diameter: two others were 5 inches in height and respectively 2 and rather more than 2 inches in diameter. The average weight of the 22 castings sent to me was 35 grammes (1 oz.); and one of them weighed 44.8 grammes (or 2 oz.). All these castings were thrown up either in one night or in two. Where the ground in Bengal is dry, as under large trees, castings of a different kind are found in vast numbers: these consist of little oval or conical bodies, from about theto rather above of an inch in length. They are obviously voided by a distinct species of worms.

The period during which worms neal Calcutta display such extraordinary activity lasts for only a little over two months, namely, during the cool season after the rains. At this time they are generally found within about 10 inches beneath the surface. During the hot season they burrow to a greater depth, and are then found coiled up and apparently hybernating. Mr. Scott has never seen them at a greater depth than 2 feet, but has heard

of their having been found at 4 feet. Within the forests, fresh castings may be found even during the hot season. The worms in the Botanic garden, during the cool and dry season, draw many leaves and little sticks into the mouths of their burrows, like our English worms; but they rarely act in this manner during the rainy season.

Mr. Scott saw worm-castings on the lofty mountains of Sikkim in North India. In South India Dr. King found in one place, on the plateau of the Nilgiris, at an elevation of 7000 feet, "a good many castings," which are interesting for their great size. The worms which eject them are seen only during the wet season, and are reported to be from 12 to 15 inches in length, and as thick as a man's little finger. These castings were collected by Dr. King after a period of 110 days without any rain; and they must have been ejected either during the north-east or more probably during the previous south-west monsoon; for their surfaces had suffered some disintegration and they were penetrated by many fine roots. A drawing is here given (Fig. 4) of one which