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Show 210 BURIAL OF THE REMAINS GrrAP. lY. It appeared sound, but when the soil wrts rmnoved from beneath, the mortar in the lower part was found to be so much decayed that the fhr~ts fell apart from their own weight. Here, in the middle of the wall, at a depth of 28 inches beneath the old floor and of 48! inches beneath the surface of tho field, a living worm was found, and the mortar was penetrated by several burrows. A second wall was exposed to view for tho first time, and an open burrow was seen on its broken summit. By separating the flints this burrow was traced far down in the interior of the wall; but as some of the flints cohered firmly, the whole mass was disturbed in pulling down the wall, and the burrow could not be traced to the bottom. The foundations of a third wall, which appeared quite sound, lay at a depth of 4 feet beneath one of the floors, and of course at a considerably greater depth beneath the level of tho ground. A large flint was wrenched ont of the wall at about a foot from the ba ·e, and this required much force, as the mortar was sound ; but behind the flint in the middle of the wall, the mortar was friable, UIIAl'. IV. OF ANCIENrl, BUILDINGS. 211 and here there were worm-burrows. Mr. Joyce and my sons were surprised at the blackness of the mortar in this and in several otl1er cases, and at the presence of mould ill the interior of the walls. Some may have been placed there by the old builders instead of mortar ; but we should remember that worms line their burrows with black humu ·. Moreover open spaces would ahnost certainly have been occasionally left between the large irregular flints ; and these spaces, we may feel sure, would be filled up by the worms with their castings, as soon as they were able to penetrate the wall. Rain-water, oozing down the burrows would also carry fine dark-coloured particles into every crevice. Mr. Joyce was at first very sceptical about the amount of work which I attributed to worms; but he ends ltis notes with reference to the last-mentioned wall by saying, " This "case caused me more surprise and brought " more conviction to me than any other. I "should have said, and did sa.y, that it was "quite impossible such a waJl could have been " penetrated by earth-worms." In almost all the rooms the pavement has p 2 |