242 EVOLUTION OF 



These Worms Ibear a general resemblance to the 

 Centipedes of the land, and some may behold them 

 with aversion on that account ; but, prejudice being 

 laid aside, we must confess that their forms are ele- 

 gant, their motions lithe, easy^ and full of grace, and 

 their general appearance attractive. They are distin- 

 guished by their long, slender, and flattened bodies, 

 composed of very numerous segments, sometimes 

 amounting to several hundred (as in the case oiPhyl- 

 lodoce laminosa, Sav., found on the French side of the 

 Channel, which reaches to two feet in length, and is 

 divided into more than 500 segments *) ; but they 

 may be more readily recognised by the series of over- 

 lapping leaflets which run along each side, one pair 

 to each segment. 



It is a very curious spectacle to see these Worms 

 turn the stomach inside out. In common with most 

 other genera of this Class, the head is minute, and 

 what seems to be the mouth is but the orifice from 

 which the proboscis is protruded. In the genus 

 Phyllodoce, this organ is a great muscular sac, some- 

 times as much as one-fourth of the whole length of 

 the body. The beholder is astonished to see a chasm 

 in the under side of the head begin to yawn, and the 

 interior rapidly protrude, turning inside out as it 

 comes forth, like a living stocking, until it assumes 

 the form of an enormous pear-shaped bag, the surface 

 of which is beset with a multitude of secreting warts 

 or glands, like those which stud the tongue in higher 

 animals. In many genera the extremity of this 



* Aud. et M.-Edw. ; Litt. de la Fr. ii. 223. 



