From E. L. Henn   28 October 1881

Dear Sir

I have been reading this evening for the first time your new work on the formation of vegetable mould.¹ At p. 28 you mention the belief as to worms leaving their burrows when the ground is beaten & made to tremble and you add that you have not found it to be the case.

Curiously enough I witnessed this phenomenon about a fortnight ago; & was much struck with it as I had never seen it before. It was during the last great Storm; when I was setting one of those square iron rabbit-traps called “the Keepers Friend” which you may see advertised in the “Field”.²

In setting the trap, I & a friend who was assisting me tramped about a good deal and in 2 or 3 minutes some 8 or 10 large worms from 4 to 5 inches long appeared about the trap & crawled about the grass.

The spot where this occured was a boggy piece of grass near trees.

I regret that I with the rest of the world was not as much interested in worms then as now, & I did not observe their movements closely; but I think that the worms had disappeared by the time our arrangements were complete. As to the mole theory it may be that the worm derives his instinct through some prehistoric race of ancestors but so far as I know the mole is a stranger in Ireland where this occurred.³

Faithfully yours | E. Lovett Henn.