76 



Part second. 



These Holothurians are very remarkable in harbouring within 

 their bodies a fish of 8 — lo inches in length, Fierasfer acus, which 

 pokes its head out of the anus of its host (fig. i6o). It eats small 

 crustaceans but has to come out of the Holothurian to catch 

 them. Some kinds of Sea-cucumbers are considered a great delicacy 

 by the Chinese; what they call "Trepang" is nothing but the 

 body of Holothuria edulis and other kinds deprived of its intestines 

 and dried in the sun or by the fire. Thousands of people, chiefly 

 Malays and Chinese, are employed in its fishery and subsequent 

 distribution ; entire fleets put out every year to the coral islands 

 between New-Holland and New-Guinea, where the fishing is most 

 profitable; but the result of their labour is only palatable to the 

 European taste when strong relishes have been added. 



Annelids (Ringed Worms). 



The name "worm" calls up in most minds a feeling of aversion, 

 since it is generally associated with such unpleasant forms as 

 slimy earth-worms and bloodthirsty leeches, tapeworms and 

 trichinosis. While the English word includes, besides these, Cleo- 

 patra's asp ("the pretty worm of Nilus") and St. George's dragon 

 ("the laidly worm"), the group of which we are treating is more 

 definite and less terrible. Indeed, in the sea we find the large 

 group to which the common Earthworm belongs, the Annelids, 

 competing in delicacy of form and beauty of colouring with the 

 most lovely Sea-anemones and other brillant inhabitants of the 

 deep. This will impress itself on the reader as soon as he takes 

 a look at the worm-tank (Nr. 22) of our Aquarium, which more 

 resembles a garden of miniature palms than a collection of 

 worms. 



The feathery spiral crowns of Spirographls (fig. 120) wave 

 about at the end of their slender stalk, the brilliant red tassels 

 of Protula (fig. 121) protrude from white calcareous tubes of 

 irregular form, while in another place a confused mass of such 

 tubes is dotted over with hundreds of many-coloured brushes, 

 Hydroides (fig. 122), all as delicate as flowers, reminding one more 

 of the children of the goddess Flora than of animal forms. And 

 yet all these organisms are true worms which have built these 

 leathery or calcareous tubes for the protection of their soft bodies ; 

 the feathery palm-like crowns are the gill-branches round their 

 heads. Touch one of these tiny crowns ever so slightly, and 

 instantly it disappears into the tube; the worm has withdrawn 

 itself into its abode, where it waits until the supposed danger 

 has passed. Then, slowly and carefully, a bunch of plumes looking 

 like a camels-hair brush will be pushed out of the tube ; they will 

 unwind and spread out again in all their glory. Even a slight 

 disturbance of the water will frighten some of these wormis into 



