252 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



The Sipunculi are frequently to be met with near 

 low-water mark, inhabiting holes which they excavate 

 in the sand to a considerable depth, lining them 

 throughout with a calcareous secretion, much in the 

 same way as a well is lined with brickwork. In these 

 retreats they move up and down with great facility, 

 coming to the surface when the tide is up, and display- 

 ing their flower-crowned proboscis ; but withdrawing 

 themselves rapidly, when disturbed, into their holes, 

 at the bottom of which they hold themselves firmly 

 by means of their dilatable posterior extremity. 



In China, where worms of all sorts are looked upon 

 as delicacies, the Sipunculi are by no means excluded 

 from the table of the epicure, but, on the contrary, 

 are regarded as high-class luxuries ; and one species, 

 the Sipunculus edulis, constitutes, like the Trepang, 

 an article of commerce. It is met with in great abun- 

 dance on the shores in the vicinity of Batavia, on the 

 coast of Java, where it is called porrest ajang by the 

 natives, and soa-sec by the Chinese, who come there 

 to catch it. It is found at the depth of from a foot to 

 a foot and a half in the sand, in holes which, being 

 always open at the top, are easily distinguishable ; and 

 the mode in which this strange fishery is conducted is, 

 as we are told, as follows. At every low tide the 

 Chinese fishermen assemble on the shore in troops, 

 each bringing with him a bundle of slender rods 

 made of cane, each rod being sharpened at one end, 

 and having a little ball or button just above the sharp 

 point. Arrived at the fishing-ground, the Chinaman 

 proceeds to drop one of these rods with its point 

 downwards into every hole, and there leaves it until 



