In several
cases the same burrow was a little enlarged at two or three points
one beneath the other; and all the burrows terminated in a rather
large chamber, at a depth of 7 or 8 feet from the surface. These
chambers contained many small sharp bits of stone and husks of
flax-seeds. They must also have contained living seeds, for on the
following spring Mr. Carnagie saw grass-plants sprouting out of
some of the intersected chambers. I found at Abinger in Surrey two
burrows terminating in similar chambers at a depth of 36 and 41
inches, and these were lined or paved with little pebbles, about as
large as mustard seeds; and in one of the chambers there was a
decayed oat-grain, with its husk. Hensen likewise states that the
bottoms of the burrows are lined with little stones; and where
these could not be procured, seeds, apparently of the pear, had
been used, as many as fifteen having been carried down into a
single burrow, one of which had germinated. {40} We thus see how
easily a botanist might be deceived who wished to learn how long
deeply buried seeds remained alive, if he were to collect earth
from a considerable depth, on the supposition that it could contain
only seeds which had long lain buried. It is probable that the
little stones, as well as the seeds, are carried down from the
surface by being swallowed; for a surprising number of glass beads,
bits of tile and of glass were certainly thus carried down by worms
kept in pots; but some may have been carried down within their
mouths.
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