From Edward Fry 24 October 1881
Failand House. | Long Ashton, | Nr. Bristol. | Stations | Railway—Portbury. | Telegraph—Pill
24 Oct 1881
Sir,
I need not I presume apologize for calling your attention to a fact about worms.
On my lawn here there stand two large mulberry trees, both of which shed their fruit in considerable quantities on the grass—1 The worms use these fallen mulberries to stop the mouth of their burrows with.—2 The fruit is so to speak worked into the cast—the heap being thrown up around & at the side of the mulberry. Whether the worms draw the mulberries to their holes or only use them as stoppers when they hit them by accident (as under one of the trees they would often do) I do not know.—and as the mulberries are nearly over, can hardly ascertain this year.
Your obed Servt | Edw: Fry
Charles Darwin Esq LLD &c. &c
Footnotes
Bibliography
Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.
Summary
Describes worms blocking their burrows with mulberries.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13427
- From
- Edward Fry
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Long Ashton
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 219
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13427,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13427.xml