ANNELIDA. 89 



flower. Let no one prate to me any more about the 

 violet as a pattern of modesty ! The coquette ! See 

 how she shows from far her fresh tuft of green leaves, 

 and scatters abroad the perfume that invites you to 

 approach. More skilful than her rivals, she knows 

 that mystery is the greatest of all attractions, and 

 that the rose herself loses by displaying her charms 

 in broad daylight ; therefore it is that she seeks the 

 obscurity of the woods and the shelter of the hedge- 

 side. But look at the Annelids ! what do they lack 

 when compared with the most splendid inhabitants 

 of earth or air ? Yet they shun the light, they with- 

 draw themselves from our view, but with no design 

 to attract ; and the naturalist alone knows where to 

 seek the strange wonders wliich are hidden within 

 the recesses of the rock, and beneath the sandy beds 

 of the ocean. You may smile at my enthusiasm, 

 but come and judge for yourself. All is prepared ! 

 Our lamp gives a light almost equal to a jet of gas, 

 while a large lens, mounted upon a moveable foot, 

 receives the rays of light, and concentrates them 

 upon our field of view. We have just placed upon 

 the stage a little trough filled with sea- water, in 

 which an Eunice is disporting itself. See how in- 

 dignant it is at its captivity ; how its numerous rings 

 contract, elongate, twist into a spiral coil, and at 

 every movement emit flashes of splendour in which all 

 the tints of the prism are blended in the brightest 

 metallic reflections. It is impossible, in the midst of 

 this tumultuous agitation, to distinguish anything 

 definitely. But it is more quiet now ; lose no time 

 in examining it. See how it crawls along the bottom 

 of the vessel, with its thousand feet moving rapidly 

 forwards. See what beautiful plumes adorn the 

 sides of the body ; these are the branchiae, or organs 

 of respiration, which become vermilion as they are 

 swelled by the blood, the course of which you may 

 trace all along the back. Look at that head ena- 

 melled with the brightest colours ; here are the few 

 tentacles, delicate organs of toucli, and here, in the 



