There are nearly three thousand different kinds of earthworms, and they crawl and burrow in the soil of lands throughout the world. All of them—from the giant Australian worm, which sometimes grows twelve feet long and gurgles as it moves under the ground, to the familiar night-crawler—play an important part in the ecology of fields and gardens.

Laurence Pringle tells why earthworms are found all over the sidewalk after a spring rain. He explains how they live, how they mate, what they eat—and who eats them. Peter Parnall's lively pictures complete the description of this small but very significant creature.

From the dust jacket