108 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



taceans constitute the most perfect Articulata. The 

 Worms, which compose the second great division of 

 this group, that of Annelids properly so called, belong 

 to a very inferior type. They also vary still further 

 in their external figure, as well as in their organisa- 

 tion. In describing my sojourn at Chausey, I 

 endeavoured to give an idea of the group of 

 wandering Annelids, those bellicose Amazons, with 

 their roving dispositions and independent mode of 

 life ; but I have not said anything of their sisters, 

 the tubicolous Annelids, those modest recluses, who 

 as soon as they emerge from the egg begin to con- 

 struct for themselves a habitation, from which they 

 never again depart. This habitation, which is 

 lengthened and widened according to the increasing 

 bulk of the proprietor, is a tube, either calcareous or 

 composed of a substance somewhat similar to leather 

 or to wetted parchment. It completely envelopes 

 the Annelid, which ascends and descends in the 

 interior without the necessity of rolling back its 

 body, for its feet are constructed in such a manner 

 that they can move backwards or forwards with 

 equal ease and facility. These animals therefore 

 pass their lives in a position somewhat similar to that 

 of a child in swaddling-clothes. The tube, which is 

 closed at the posterior extremity, exhibits a circular 

 opening in front, which serves as a kind of window 

 through which these hermits are enabled to take a 

 view of the world around them, to seize upon any 

 prey which may happen to pass in their way, and to 

 expose their blood to the vivifying action of the 

 water, which serves them in tlie place of the air 



