WORMS AND POLYZOA 77 



their feet being flattened to form leaf-like structures which 

 aid the worms in swimming. Though they may thus escape 

 general attention, their egg masses must often have puzzled 

 the seaside visitor. The ova are encased in gelatinous 

 balls attached by a delicate thread to leaves or solid objects. 

 The eggs of one common species are exactly the size, 

 colour and texture of a fresh-water grape. 



A very large number of Poly chaste worms build tubes 

 often of striking formation and varied design. The Quill 

 Worm (Hyalinoecia tubicola) makes a long transparent tube 

 the size of and colour of a goose quill and in this the 

 worm hides, excluding intruders by a series of ingenious 

 flaps or valves. It is an active worm and crawls about, 

 dragging its tube with it in the manner of a cadis larva. 



Another common worm is the Sand Mason (Terebella 

 comhilega), the tubes of which few can have overlooked. 

 They often suggest a clump of corn stubble, each stalk 

 having a crown of ragged arms, the whole composed of 

 sand grains. The worm, like most of the tube-dwellers, 

 obtrudes itself at high water, displaying beautiful feathery 

 gill plumes and a mass of threadlike tentacles which may 

 spread like a golden halo above the tube. 



The Peacock Worm (Sabella pavonind) similarly raises 

 the upper portion of its tube well above the sand, and as 

 the tide rises spreads a pair of immense gill plumes, the 

 colours of which fully justify the popular name. When 

 all is quiet a cluster of these worms makes a veritable 

 flower garden, but on the slightest hint of alarm or even 

 the passing of a cloud shadow the plumes vanish in a 

 second leaving only the dead-looking corn stalks. 



Very few animals may be termed definitely inedible, 



