for its having sunk about 2 inches into the ground; more especially if we
bear in mind that a good deal of the finest earth would have been washed
by heavy rain from the castings ejected on the sloping border down to the
level of the field. Some fresh castings were seen close to the stone.
Nevertheless, 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 possibly since their
establishment the worms had decreased in number.
The third stone was only about half as large as the others; and two
strong boys could together have rolled it over. I have no doubt that it
had been rolled over at a moderately recent time, for it now lay at some
distance from the two other stones at the bottom of a little adjoining
slope. It rested also on fine earth, instead of partly on brick-rubbish.
In agreement with this conclusion, the raised surrounding border of turf
was only 1 inch high in some parts, and 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 Stonehenge, some of the outer Druidical stones are now prostrate,
having fallen at a remote but unknown period; and these have become
buried to a moderate depth in the ground. They are surrounded by sloping
borders of turf, on which recent castings were seen. Close to one of
these fallen stones, which was 17 ft long, 6 ft. broad, and 281 2 inches
thick, a hole was dug; and here the vegetable mould was at least 91 2
inches in thickness. At this depth a flint was found, and a little
higher up on one side of the hole a fragment of glass. The base of the
stone lay about 91 2 inches beneath the level of the surrounding ground,
and its upper surface 19 inches above the ground.
A hole was also dug close to a second huge stone, which in falling had
broken into two pieces; and this must have happened long ago, judging
from the weathered aspect of the fractured ends. The base was buried to
a depth of 10 inches, as was ascertained by driving an iron skewer
horizontally into the ground beneath it. The vegetable mould forming the
turf-covered sloping border round the stone, on which many castings had
recently been ejected, was 10 inches in thickness; and most of this mould
must have been brought up by worms from beneath its base. At a distance
of 8 yards from the stone, the mould was only 51 2 inches in thickness
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