Helena, Madagascar, New
Caledonia and Tahiti. In the Antarctic regions, worms from
Kerguelen Land have been described by Ray Lankester; and I found
them in the Falkland Islands. How they reach such isolated islands
is at present quite unknown. They are easily killed by salt-water,
and it does not appear probable that young worms or their egg-
capsules could be carried in earth adhering to the feet or beaks of
land-birds. Moreover Kerguelen Land is not now inhabited by any
land-bird.
In this volume we are chiefly concerned with the earth cast up by
worms, and I have gleaned a few facts on this subject with respect
to distant lands. Worms throw up plenty of castings in the United
States. In Venezuela, castings, probably ejected by species of
Urochaeta, are common in the gardens and fields, but not in the
forests, as I hear from Dr. Ernst of Caracas. He collected 156
castings from the court-yard of his house, having an area of 200
square yards. They varied in bulk from half a cubic centimeter to
five cubic centimeters, and were on an average 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.
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