THE SERPULA. 171 



distinctly seen tlirough the transparent integument. 

 Ever and anon tlie tiny forceps of the hand are em- 

 ployed to seize and pull off any fragment of extraneous 

 matter which clings to the skin too firmly to be 

 removed by brushing ; it is plucked off, and thrown 

 away, clear of the body and limbs. The long antennae 

 and all the other limbs are cleaned by means of the 

 foot-jaws principally. 



THE SEEPULA. 



There is scarcely any object more familiar to the 

 eye of one accustomed to dredge, or to pore about the 

 water's edge at extreme low tide, than the tubes of 

 stony or shelly substance which are found adhering, 

 in various contortions and aggregations, to almost 

 every stationary object that is habitually submersed. 

 The under-sides of every ledge, of every boulder, and 

 almost every pebble, are studded with these twisting, 

 creeping tubes, which seem to contend with the 

 crowding Acorn-barnacles [Balanus] for the possession 

 of every inch of space within their domain. Those 

 that occur within tide-marks are usually of a small 

 species, with the tube strongly carinated, and some- 

 what three-sided, and the exposed part of the animal 

 banded with bluish-grey. But in deep water they 

 are much finer and more brilliantly coloured. I be- 

 lieve the former is S. triquetra, the latter >S'. contor- 

 tuplicata; but the species of this tribe have yet to 

 be disentangled from the confusion of closet nomen- 

 clature. It is of the deep-water species that I would 

 speak ; not the rarer solitary kind [S. tuhularia), that 

 adheres to the stone or shell by only a small portion 



