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Show 154 GTtEA'r STONES CrrAP. IlL last case, viz., from 2 to 2! inches, but in one place 1t was as much as 5~. Its average height close to the stone was probab:y about. 3 inche and it thinned out to notlnng. If so, a lny~r of fine earth, 15 inches in bre~dth and 1~ inch in average thickness, of sufficient length to surround the whole of the much elongated slab, 1nust have been brougl1t up by the worms in chief part front beneath tl~e stone in the course of 35 years. Th1s amount would be amply sufficient to account for its havino- sunk about 2 inches into the b . . d ground; more especially if we boar 111 nnn that a good deal of the finest earth would have been washed by heavy rain from tllo casting~ ejected. on the sloping border d~wn to the level of the field. Some fresh caf:itmgs were seen close to the stone. N evertboles , on digging a large hole to a depth of 18 inches where the stone had lain, only two worms and a few burrows were seen, although the soil was damp and seemed favourable for worms. There were some large colonies of ants beneath the stone, and po ·sibly since their establishment the worms had decreased in number. The third stone was only about half as CHAP. lli. UNDERMINED BY WORMS. 155 large as the others ; and two st.ro11g boys could too-other have rolled it over. I have no donLt that it had been rolled over at a moderately recent time, for it now lay at some distance from the two other stones at tho botton1 of a little adjoinino- slope. It rested. also on fine earth, instead of partly on brick-ruubish. In agreement with this conclusion, the raised surrounding borcler of turf was only 1 inch high in some parts, anu 2 inches in other parts. There were no colonies of ants beneath this stone, and on digging a hole where it had lain, several burrows and worms were found. At StonelJenge, some of the outer Druidical stones are now prostrate, having fallen at a remote but unkpown period; and these have become buried to a moderate depth in the ground. They are surrounded by sloping borders of turf, on wl1ich recent castings were seen. Close to one of these fall en stones, which was 17 ft. long, 6 ft. broad, and 28~ inches thick, a hole was dug; and here tho vegetable mould was at lea. t ~~ jnches in thickness. At thjs depth a flint was found, and a little higher up on one side of tho hole a fragment of glass. The base of tho stone |