The Formation Of Vegetable Mould Through The Action Of Worms With Observations Of Their Habits Book

	Introduction	1
Chapter I.	Habits of Worms	8
	Nature of the sites inhabited
	Can live long under water
	Nocturnal
	Wander about at night
	Often lie close to the mouths of their burrows, and are thus destroyed in large numbers by birds
	Structure
	Do not possess eyes, but can distinguish between light and darkness
	Retreat rapidly when brightly illuminated, not by a reflex action
	Power of attention
	Sensitive to heat and cold
	Completely deaf
	Sensitive to vibrations and to touch
	Feeble power of smell
	Taste
	Mental qualities
	Nature of food
	Omnivorous
	Digestion
	Leaves before being swallowed, moistened with a fluid of the nature of the panereatie secretion
	Extra-stomachal digestion
	Calciferous glands, structure of
	Calcareous concretions formed in the anterior pair of glands
	The calcaieous matier primarily an excretion, but secondarily serves to nentralise the acids generated during the digestive process
Chapter II.	Habits of Worms	55
	Manner in which worms seize objects
	Their power of suction
	The instinct of plugging up the mouths of their burrows
	Stones piled over the burrows
	The advantages thus gained
	Intelligence shown by worms in their manner of plugging up their burrows
	Various kinds of leaves and other objects thus used
	Triangles of paper
	Summary of reasons for believing that worms exhibit some intelligence
	Means by which they excavate their burrows, by pushing away the earth and swallowing it
	Earth also swallowed for the nutritious matter which it contains
	Depth to which worms burrow, and the construction of their burrows
	Burrows lined with castings, and in the upper part with leaves
	The lowest part paved with little stones or seeds
	Manner in which the castings are ejected
	The collapse of old burrows
	Distribution of worms
	Tower-like castings in Bengal
	Gigantic castings on the Nilgiri Mountains
	Castings ejected in all countries
Chapter III.	The Amount of Fine Earth Brought Up by Worms to the Surface	129
	Rate at which various objects strewed on the surface of grass-fields are covered up by the castings of worms
	The burial of a paved path
	The slow subsidence of great stones left on the surface
	The number of worms which live within a given space
	The weight of earth ejected from a burrow, and from all the burrows within a given space
	The thickness of the layer of mould which the castings on a given space would form within a given time if uniformly spread out
	The slow rate at which mould can increase to a great thickness
	Conclusion
Chapter IV.	The Part Which Worms Have Played in the Burial of Ancient Buildings	176
	The accumulation of rubbish on the sites of great cities independent of the action of worms
	The burial of a Roman villa at Abinger
	The floors and walls penetrated by worms
	Subsidence of a modern pavement
	The buried pavement at Beaulieu Abbey
	Roman villas at Chedworth and Brading
	The remains of the Roman town at Silchester
	The nature of the debris by which the remains are covered
	The penetration of the tesselated floors and walls by worms
	Subsidence of the floors
	Thickness of the mould
	The old Roman city of Wroxeter
	Thickness of the mould
	Depth of the foundations of some of the buildings
	Conclusion
Chapter V.	The Action of Worms in the Denudation of the Land	230
	Evidence of the amount of denudation which the sand Las undergone
	Subaerial denudation
	The deposition of dust
	Vegetable mould, its dark colour and fine texture largely due to the action of worms
	The disintegration of rocks by the humus-acids
	Similar acids apparently generated within the bodies of worms
	The action of these acids facilitated by the continued movement of the particles of earth
	A thick bed of mould checks the disintegration of the underlying soil and rocks
	Particles of stone worn or triturated in the gizzards of worms
	Swallowed stones serve as millstones
	The levigated state of the castings
	Fragments of brick in the castings over ancient buildings well rounded. The triturating power of worms not quite insignificant under a geological point of view
Chapter VI.	The Denudation of the Land	259
	Denudation aided by recently ejected castings flowing down inclined grass-covered surfaces
	The amount of earth which annually flows downwards
	The effect of tropical rain on worm castings
	The finest particles of earth washed completely away from castings
	The disintegration of dried castings into pellets, and their rolling down inclined surfaces
	The formation of little ledges on hill-sides, in part due to the accumulation of disintegrated castings
	Castings blown to leeward over level land
	An attempt to estimate the amount thus blown
	The degradation of ancient encampments and tumuli
	The preservation of the crowns and furrows on land anciently ploughed
	The formation and amount of mould over the Chalk formation
Chapter VII.	Conclusion	305
	Summary of the part which worms have played in the history of the world
	Their aid in the disintegration of rocks
	In the denudation of the land
	In the preservation of ancient remains
	In the preparation of the soil for the growth of plants
	Mental powers of worms
	Conclusion
	Index	315