264 THALASSEMACE^E. 



fish, Zoophytes, and other dwellers in the deep, a number 

 of the curious worms I am about to describe. They were 

 twisting about on the wet sand with many symptoms or 

 discomfort, and near them lay as many curious fleshy red 

 bodies, which seemed alive, and to be independent animals. 

 They were not so, however, but were the broken-off apjien- 

 dages or sheaths to the creature's proboscis, by means of 

 which probably the Spoon-worm makes its way through 

 the sand in which it lives, or perhaps folding it into a 

 funnel, thereby secures a supply of water when buried 

 deep beneath the surface. From the marrow-spoon shape 

 of the sheaths I have given the worms an English appel- 

 lation. 



The Echiurus was first described by Pallas, and his 

 account has furnished the materials for all the descriptions 

 published since his time. He obtained it from the coast 

 of Belgium, where he says it lives buried in the sand, and 

 is used as a bait by the fishermen. 



The largest specimens I examined measured six inches 

 in length, and half an inch in diameter. Their bodies were 

 cylindrical, of a bright rose colour, and annulated with 

 little tubercles, which were paler than the ground colour. 

 The oral end is furnished with a proboscis about half an 

 inch in length, having a red margin at its extremity, but 

 no tentacula. This proboscis is retractile, but not so the 

 singular long extensile homogeneous sheath or spoon of a 

 scarlet colour fixed on one side its base. This appendage 

 is so slightly fixed that it breaks away on the slightest touch. 

 A little way from its junction with the body are two 

 shining lustrous cartilaginous horns or antenna 1 , short, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, curved, and retractile, their colour 

 being golden yellow. These are the genital hooks. From 

 between these proceeded a red line, indicating the course 



