THE ARCHIPELAGO OF CHAUSEY. 47 



as means of attack and defence. Almost all are 

 nourished with living victims. Some wait in ambush 

 for the passing of small Crustaceans, Planarias, or 

 other minute animals, and seize their prey with their 

 proboscis, or entwine them in the folds of their thou- 

 sand arms. Others again, more active than the rest, 

 pursue their victims over the sand or through thick 

 tufts of Corallines, Nullipores, and various marine 

 plants. Some attach themselves to shells, and after 

 perforating them devour the inhabitant. The Her- 

 mella, a species of the tubicolous annelids, thus com- 

 mits great havoc amongst oyster beds, destroying 

 numerous colonies of this much cherished mollusc. 

 The annelids are in their turn pursued by a multi- 

 tude of carnivorous animals. Fishes wage a rude 

 war against them, and if one more imprudent than 

 the rest should abandon its retreat, or be exposed 

 to view by the movement of the waves, it rarely 

 escapes the murderous teeth of some whiting, eel, 

 sole, or plaice. It it asserted that the latter kind of 

 fish are well acquainted with the mode of drawing 

 them from the sand ; the same is the case with the 

 Turbo and the Buccinum ; but crabs, lobsters, and a 

 great number of other crustaceans, constitute their 

 most formidable enemies, for the solid carapace by 

 which these animals are covered protects them 

 entirely from the formidable arms of the annelids. 



It was with a keen feeling of curiosity that, in the 

 course of my excursions, I studied the manners of 

 these bellicose races, and watched the skirmishes 

 which terminated almost invariably in a feast, for 

 which the vanquished supplied the viands in person. 



