196 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE 



will teU you that they have seen the hair grow into a living worm. 

 It is a curious fact that many fish are infested with various forms of 

 Entozoa, which attach themselves upon the lips, eyes, and other 

 tender organs, by means of a little hook developed near the mouth. 



The Rotijera are minute microscopic animals found with the Po- 

 lygastrica, hut removed from them in the classification we have 

 adopted, because their organization is more perfect and complex. 

 The Cirrkopoda are inclosed in shells of carbonate of lime ; all tim- 

 bers exposed in the sea, and the broken utensils and instruments 

 thrown out from vessels at anchor, are soon covered with them. 

 IMany Cirrhopoda are found adhering to the backs of Whales and 

 Porpoises. The Common Barnacle and several species of Lepas now 

 before me, will serve to illustrate this curious family. 



Inhabiting the soils of all continents, and burrowing by millions 

 into the sands of the sea shore, are various species of worms, con- 

 stituting the class AnneUdse. The beauty of the forms, the struc- 

 ture, and the colours of many of these worms are not exceeded by 

 those of any other animals ; and their astonishing numbers render 

 them important in the economy of Nature : they display as much 

 the hand of the Great Artificer and are as perfect for their objects 

 as man himself. The time is now past for ignorance to sneer at the 

 anatomy of a worm : to overlook any of the links in the great chain, 

 or to attach insignificance to any particular stage in the general 

 process of vital development, would betray a gross indifference to 

 the more interesting and philosophical parts of Natural History. 



If you examine the Common Earth-worm, which may be taken 

 as the type of the AnneUdse, you may see that it is surrounded by 

 rings extending from one extremity of the body to the other, and 

 you may delect by a close examination eight very short, pointed, 

 tubular _/ce/ attached to each ring or segment: by the naked eye 

 they can hardly be perceived, but you may feel them with the fin- 

 ger and see them by the aid of a lens. In the next class, Myriopo- 

 da, the legs are much more developed and the segments of the body 

 more conspicuous ; for example, in the Centipede. Insecta is a very 

 large and interesting class, including all those animals which under- 

 go metamorphosis from a caterpillar to the chrysalis, and from that 

 again to the perfect form : Jloths and Butterflies, Wasps and Bees, 

 are sufficiently familiar examples. Allied to insects are the Arach- 

 jiidss — Spiders, Scorpions, &c. These are distinguished from insects 

 by being destitute of antennas, they have no wings, and are not 

 subject to any metamorphosis. 



Fossil Myriapoda, Insecta, and Arachnida occur in great numbers 



