ANNELIDES. 95 



bristles, some of them simple, some of them compomid. This indi- 

 vidual then has 2U00 spines at least ; and if we reckon ten bristles 

 to each brush, it has also 20,000 of them ! This, as Sir Thomas 

 Brown would say, is one of the " magnalities " of nature ; yet, let us 

 look a little further — not merely to the exquisite finish of each bristle, 

 but to the means by which the host is put in motion. There is a 

 set of muscles to push them forth from their port-holes, — there is 

 another to replace each and all of them within their proper cases ; 

 and the uncounted crowd of these muscles neither twist nor knot 

 together, but play in their courses regulated by a will that controls 

 them more effectually than any brace ; — that now spurs them to 

 convulsive energy, — now stills them to rest, — and anon puts them 

 into action where the ease and grace charm us to admiration, and 

 fix the belief that even these creeping things participate largely in 

 the happiness diffused throughout creation ! 



" Mail livetli only in himself, but the Lord liveth in all things; 

 And His pervading unity quickeneth the whole creation. 

 Man doeth one thing at once, nor can he think two thoughts together ; 

 But God compasseth all things, mantling the globe like air: 

 And we render homage to His wisdom, seeing use in all His creatures, 

 For, perchance, the universe would die, were not all things as they are." 



TuppER, Prov. Philosophy. 



Synopsis of the Families of Annelides rapacia. 



A, Rings of the body dissimilar, in so far that on some certain ymm- 



bers of them the scales or superior cirri alternately appear and 

 disappear. 



Family I. APHRODITACE^. Back usually covered with scales : 

 branchise rudimentary : head distinct : proboscis with two pairs 

 of jaws. 



B. Rings of the body similar : no scales. 



* Head distinct: nojaios: branchice developed in arbuscles, tifts 

 or crests attached to the back or base of the feet : no spines. 



Family II. AMPHINOM.ffi. 



** Head distiiict, rarely without antennae and eyes : jaws usually 

 present : branchice either obsolete, or in the form of a filament 

 inserted m a single straight or spiral series, or in the form of 

 lobules or tonguelets : spines rarely absent. 



'\ Proboscis loith from seven to nine jaws articulated together : 

 branchice either obsolete, or well-developed i7i the form of pec- 

 tinated filaments inserted above the dorsal cirrus : feet with 

 ■spines. 



Family III. EUNICE. 



