On the Absence of Earthworms from the Prairies of the Canadian North-West

Abstract

In NATURE of Jan. 3 (p. 213) Mr. Robert M. Christy writes on the absence of earthworms from the prairies of the North-West. I can confirm his statements, and extend them to cover the prairies of Kansas, the Indian Territory, Idaho, and Washington Territory. In all the above-mentioned territory of the United States the soil is more or less alkaline, and it seems to me that to this cause the absence of earthworms may be attributed. Ants and burrowing beetles, or the larvæ of the latter, are, however, common, and no doubt do much service in the manufacture of plant-food, as well as in the destruction of decaying material. At Boise City, Idaho, some enthusiastic disciples of Izaak Walton imported and successfully reared the coveted bait for their fish-hooks in soil suited to the habitat of the Lumbricidæ.