We have seen that worms are found in nearly every part of the globe, that they are very numerous, as many as 348,480 having been found in an acre of rich ground in New Zealand, and that by the peculiar economy of their nature they are fitted to accomplish a great deal of good in the earth. They have played a more important part in the history of the world than most persons would at first suppose. In many parts of England, according to Darwin, a weight of more than ten tons of dry earth annually passes through their bodies and is brought to the surface in each acre of land, so that the entire superficial bed of vegetable mould passes through their bodies in the course of every few years; and in most parts of the forests and pasture-lands of Southern Brazil, where several species of earth-worms abound, the whole soil to a depth of a quarter of a metre looks as though it had passed through the intestines of worms, even where scarcely any castings are to be observed upon the surface. The upper crust is continually being eaten and ejected by them, thus aiding the fertility of the soil, as well as conveying water and air to the interior by the myriads of burrows which they drill. The vast quantities of leaves that they drag into their holes tend also to enrich the ground. Nor does their good end here. They cover up seeds, undermine rocks, burying them up, and to their labors is due the preservation of many ruins and ancient works of art. Numerous old-time Roman villas have been discovered beneath the ground in England, whose entombments were undoubtedly caused by the worms that undermined them and deposited their castings upon the floors, till finally, aided by other causes, they disappeared from sight. When a wide, turf-covered expanse of earth is beheld, we would do well to remember that its smoothness, upon which so much of its beauty depends, is largely due to all the inequalities having been slowly levelled by worms. That all the surface-mould of any such expanse has passed, and will again pass, every few years through the bodies of worms is a marvellous reflection, and one which should not be lightly dismissed from the mind. The most ancient, as well as one of the most valuable of man’s inventions, is the plough. But long before man existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed, and still continues to be ploughed, by earth-worms. No other animal has played such a part in history as have these lowly-organized creatures. True it is that corals, which are still lower in the scale of animals, have performed more conspicuous work in the innumerable reefs and islands they have built in the great oceans, but their work is confined to the tropical zones, while that of the earth-worm is well-nigh universal. Verily it is by the little things in life that the Creator has erected the most stupendous monuments to show forth His infinite power and wisdom. FIDDLER- AND HERMIT-CRABS.