THE MICROSCOPE 



IS/LATY, 1896. 



Number 4i 



New Series 



Sabella. 



BY P. H. GOSSE, F. R. S. 



For some time I have been keeping in a tank a speci- 

 men of that rather rare and very interesting Sabella, the 

 Amphitrite vesiculosa of Montagu. It is a worm inhab- 

 iting a sort of skinny tube, much begrimmed with mud, 

 about two inches of its length being exposed, and about 

 as much more concealed in the sand and sediment. 



A beautiful object is presented by the gill-fans of this 

 Avorm. These organs are alwav elegant, whatever species 



The Witches' Dance Around the Charmed Pot. 

 we may have before us, but here, in addition to the 

 slender filaments, so delicately fringed, with their double 

 comb-like rows of cirri, the tip of each bears a dark pur- 

 ple spherule. That of the anterior filament on each side 

 is much larger than the rest, andforms a stout, globose, 

 nearly black ball ; the others diminish to about the 



