156 LUMBRICUS. 
depth below, which few of the better informed have had an opportu- 
nity of beholding, or of withdrawing from its dark abodes ; circumstances 
which render me the more desirous of presenting the lively image of one 
of the most curious of Nature’s works to those who wish to become ac- 
quainted with its appearance. , 
1. This animal, the fisherman’s worm, extends ten inches in length 
by nearly half an inch in thickness, the body being cylindrical, and sub- 
divided into very numerous segments. It diminishes slightly towards 
each extremity.—Plate XIX., fig. 1. The animal occasionally displays 
the formation of the head or anterior extremity, as shewn in fig 2, of a 
globular shape, with a hollow centre, which Miiller considers a proboscis. 
It generally protrudes this when the animal is very weak. 
A double row of about eighteen pencils commences near the ante- 
rior, composed of bristles issuing from the sides of the animal, occupying 
the greater part of the whole length, and terminates where the body is 
suddenly reduced in size, and assumes for the remainder quite a diffe- 
rent aspect, as if of more uniform nature, with-a shagreen surface. 
Thirteen pair of beautiful vermilion branchiz rise from the back, 
commencing about a third of the length from the anterior extremity, 
fig. 1, a, 6. These organs are of inconceivable beauty and interest, of 
which the art of the limner can produce but a very imperfect representa- 
tion, difficult enough otherwise to be obtained, both from the incessant 
contraction and dilatation, and the motion of the animal. By the 
microscope the resemblance of each to vegetable forms is discovered in 
stem, boughs, and branches, all in lively action, fig. 3. 
The quantity of bristles in a pencil, and the size of the branchie, 
are indefinite and irregular, the smallest beg next the head. 
The diversity of colour in this species is very great ; nor do I know 
that it is dependent on either age or dimensions. Of a number collected 
together some will be found of a carmine colour, or of deeper red, some 
brownish, and others blackish-green ; besides, there are specimens which 
exhibit various blending shades in the same individual. 
Dwelling constantly in the dark, not only deep in the sand, but 
