these were brilliant blue and were spread in such 

 manner that it was less like a funnel than a pretty 

 star. 



Almost immediately following the extrusion of 

 this striking bit of stellate beauty came the breath- 

 taking sight of the even more brilliant, but pur- 

 plish-blue, branchiae. Like the corolla of some 

 ghostly flower, fast-unfolding, the diaphanous 

 petal-like components expanded, revealing them- 

 selves as thirty-two transparent combs, each comb, 

 more accurately described, being a long slender 

 process covered on its inner surface with short 

 spreading filaments which gave it more the appear- 

 ance of a colorful, exquisite, phantom-feather. 



Such was the singular beauty of Serpula dian- 

 thus — distant kin of Aphrodite aculeata, the sea- 

 mouse. Need I add that this vision of loveliness 

 was also a worm? 



It soon became apparent, however, that the bril- 

 liantly colored breathing appendages have a dual 

 function; they serve also as a snare. At intervals the 

 worm would withdraw its gills into the tube with 

 a suddenness similar to that displayed when I first 

 approached it with my lens. That these sudden 

 disappearances were due to other causes than from 



[159] 



