This article has been taken from The Telegraph Knowhow newspaper of 26th September, 2006. I had cut out this article before the puja and had completely forgotten about it. Today, I suddenly discovered it. I have not typed the whole thing. Just the words in bold are the reason for which I am including this in my blog.

“J.K. Rowling, here’s food for thought. Would you be interested in a three feet long pinkish worm that smells like lilies and spits? It was long thought to be extinct, this worm. But in true Hogwarts style, it’s popping out intermittently from tiny swatches of farmlands in the Washington-Idaho border. And it’s making waves in the region.
If conservationists had their way, they would hardsell the Giant Palouse Earthworm to Rowling and insist she gave it pride of place in Harry Potter’s armament of miracles. “This worm is the stuff that legends and fairy tales are made of,” says worm supporter Steve Paulson. “What kid wouldn’t want to play with a 3 foot-long, lily smelling, soft pink worm that spits on attackers?”
The worm was first found in 1897, and the species has always been elusive. It can burrow down to 15 feet deep. There have been only three reported sightings since 1987. The most recent sighting was on May 27, 2005 when a graduate student from the University of Idaho unearthed one specimen. The Giant Palouse Earthworm is the largest and longest-lived earthworm on the American continent.”