VERMES. 85 
That neither specks nor eyes, nor the position of the mouth, can be dis- 
covered in the living specimens ; that the student of animated nature 
cannot destroy his subject, and if perishing in his possession, it often goes 
so speedily to decay, that it is impossible, were he even a skilful ana- 
tomist, to avail himself of dissection. 
Thus, until enabled to ascertain the structure and habits of the living 
products of the creation, we are compelled, for convenience, to assign 
them an equivocal position in the Systema; destined, we hope, to be rec- 
tified by time, experience, and the united labour of naturalists. 
Gorpius ANGuISs.— The Snake- Worm.—Plate XIII. 
The subject of this paragraph is one of the most remarkable among 
the tenants of the deep. It is a genuine snake in miniature, of delicate 
form and proportions, decked in lively colours. 
The length of the snake-worm is thirty inches or more, its diameter 
little exceeding that of a crow-quill, or under the eighth part of an inch. 
It forms itself into various graceful folds, and can fabricate a silken case 
for its own reception, which is always shorter than the body. 
When dislodged from the sheath, the body is seen to be round, taper- 
ing towards an obtuse lower extremity ; the head obtuse, originating from 
the rudiments of a frill on the neck, where there are four notches. The 
mouth is in the extremity of the anterior part, as appeared from several 
specimens. 
I have not observed any dark specks or eyes as in many of the other 
worms, nor have I seen any specimen implicated in a knot, notwithstand- 
ing its apparent inconvenient extent ; nevertheless, if several be in the 
same vessel, they are intertwined, and seem entangled among themselves, 
though each can free itself speedily. 
The colour of the animal is usually red and white, finely contrasted. 
—Plate X. fig. 7. The red, for the most part, scarlet or vermilion. 
But the creature must be subjected to occular inspection, and in more 
than one specimen, for enabling the observer to discover how the colours 
are disposed. 
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