TELETHUS^. 227 



ber of the middle and posterior segments are found highly developed 

 vascular branchiae, fixed, like scarlet miniature arbuscles, behind the 

 dorsal branch of the foot. 



The TelethuscB are called Lug-worms by our fishermen, and, in 

 an economical sense, they are the most valuable and important mem- 

 bers of their class. Almost at any season, when the tide has with- 

 drawn itself within the limits of the ocean, the idler who has wan- 

 dered down to the shore may, perchance, notice a group of men, 

 girls and boys hieing thither with a glee that he might almost envy. 

 Some carry a small spade, round and very sharp on the edge, and 

 mounted with a long handle ; and others have a little shallow bucket 

 held by a twisted cord fixed in a hole on each side of the brim. 

 They are a picturesque and a happy group. They go direct to a 

 sanely bay which reaches from the shore to the lowest ebb, and is 

 made a little sinuous by the ledge of rocks on each side that define 

 its limits. Over this bay our group disperse themselves, every one 

 as his experience guides him to the spot most favoured by the Lug- 

 worm. Here, either directed by some peculiarity in the holes on 

 the surface, or often, as I think, by mere guess, the bait-seeker 

 plunges his spade deep into the sand, — not by pressure of the foot 

 as a gardener does, but by the force of the arm only ; and then he 

 throws out the sand, whence his attendant boy or girl picks out the 

 wreathing worm and tosses it into her bucket, the bottom of which 

 has been just covered with a little sea-water. Thus the work goes 

 on as if it were a pastime, until the whole bay has been searched, 

 and now unseemly pits and hillocks cover the entire surface. But 

 the tide flows fast, — and on its recess all is found to be again smooth 

 and level, and no evidence remains to convict the spoilers of its 

 tenantry. 



This little bay — it may be 50 yards in breadth and four times 

 that in length, — will aiford daily a crop of worms for several success- 

 ive weeks ; and, after an interval of a month's rest, other crops of 

 equal abundance ; and this from year to year immemorial. To 

 account for the unfailing supply, our fishermen imagine that the 

 worms come in from the sea with the tides : more likely it is depend- 

 ent on the fecundity of the species, and the rapid growth of the 

 individual. The number taken is amazingly great. As a basis for 

 the calcxilation let us take our own fishery, and let us estimate the 

 boats engaged in the capture of fish that esteem the Lug-worm a 

 favourite food at the number of twelve only (we have in reality seven- 

 teen so engaged at present), — and let us further suppose that each 

 boat baits one line, Avith its 700 hooks, daily with the Lug, and for 

 the short period of six weeks per annum, and this low estimate will 

 give an annual consumption of 302,400 worms ! Now again multiply 

 this great host by the numbers used in each of the fisheries that are 

 carried on in almost every bay and creek of our island, and it will 

 take a very long series of figures indeed to express the enumeration, 

 — such as sets the mind to wander vaguely amidst creations that are 

 to it innumerable. 



The manner in which the lob-worm burrows may be thus ex- 



a2 



