ANNELIDA. 91 



handle : these moveable pieces are intended to remain 

 in the body of the enemy, while the handle which 

 supported them becomes a long spike, as sharp as 

 it was before. Here we have straight or curved 

 poniards, cutting-bills, arrows with the barbs turned 

 backwards, but carefully provided with a sheath to 

 protect the fine indentations from being blunted 

 by friction, or broken by any unforeseen accident, 

 i'inally, if the enemy should disregard his first wounds, 

 there darts from every foot a shorter but stronger 

 spear, which is brought into play by a special set of 

 muscles, so soon as the combatants are sufficiently 

 near to grapple in close fight." 



It is not without reason that nature has endowed 

 these amazons with more finely-polished and sharper- 

 pointed weapons than any wielded by the paladins of 

 old : destined to live by rapine, and exposed to the 

 attacks of a thousand enemies, they need them both 

 as means of attack and defence. Almost all feed 

 upon living prey. Some wait in ambush for the 

 passing by of small Crustaceans, Planariae, or other 

 minute animals, and seize their victims with their 

 proboscis, or entwine them in the folds of their 

 numerous arms. Others, again, more active than the 

 rest, pursue their game over the sand or through 

 thick tufts of corallines and other marine plants. 

 Some attach themselves to shells, and having per^ 

 forated them, devour their inhabitants. The Her- 

 mella thus commits great havoc among the oyster- 

 beds, destroying numerous colonies of this much- 

 cherished mollusc. These Annelids are, in their 

 turn, pursued by a multitude 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 \vaves, it rarely escapes 

 the murderous jaws of some whiting, sole, plaice, or 

 eel. It is asserted that the latter kind of fish are 

 well acquainted with the mode of drawing them out 

 of the sand, as do the whelks. But crabs, lobsters, 

 and a host of other crustaceans, constitute their most 



