suspecting sheep to take his frugal meal, and, cropping the grass
swallows it, _cercariae_ and all. But the latter, when they find
themselves in the sheep's stomach, make their way straight to the
bile-ducts, up which they travel to the liver. Here, in a few weeks,
they grow up into full-blown flukes and begin the important business of
producing eggs.

"Such is the pathological romance of the 'liver-rot'; and now what is
its connection with this mysterious discovery? It is this. After the
outbreak of 'liver-rot' above referred to, the ground landlord, a Mr.
John Bellingham, instructed his solicitor to insert a clause in the
lease of the beds directing that the latter should be periodically
cleared and examined by an expert to make sure that they were free from
the noxious water-snails. The last lease expired about two years ago,
and since then the beds have been out of cultivation; but, for the
safety of the adjacent pastures, it was considered necessary to make
the customary periodical inspection, and it was in the course of
cleaning the beds for this purpose that the present discovery was made.

"The operation began two days ago. A gang of three men proceeded
systematically to grub up the plants and collect the multitudes of
water-snails that they might be examined by the expert to see if any
obnoxious species were present. They had cleared nearly half of the
beds when, yesterday afternoon, one of the men working in the deepest
part came upon some bones, the appearance of which excited his
suspicion. Thereupon he called his mates, and they carefully picked
away the plants piece-meal, a process that soon laid bare an
unmistakable human hand lying on the mud amongst the roots.
Fortunately they had the wisdom not to disturb the remains, but at once
sent off a message to the police. Very soon, an inspector and a
sergeant, accompanied by the divisional surgeon, arrived on the scene,
and were able to view the remains lying as they had been found. And
now another very strange fact came to light; for it was seen that the
hand--a left one--lying on the mud was minus its third finger. This is
regarded by the police as a very important fact as bearing on the
question of identification, seeing that the number of persons having
the third finger of the left hand missing must be quite small. After a
thorough examination on the spot, the bones were carefully collected
and conveyed to the mortuary, where they now lie awai