180 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
circulation, as in animals respiring in an aqueous 
element: an organization which clearly demon- 
strates the care of a benevolent Creator. In lke 
manner, the extraordinary fact, that the breathing 
organs of the Ship-Worm, (in common with such 
animals as are unprovided with a cavity for the re- 
ception of salt-water), are placed externally, evinces 
that their construction is in exact accordance with 
their mode of life. This wonderful provision is par- 
ticularly obvious in the Actinie, or Animal Plants, of 
the West Indies. Their beautiful membranaceous 
expansions, which resemble the petals of flowers, and 
glow beneath the water in vivid tints of yellow, green, 
or purple, are in fact, breathing organs, not merely 
tentaculee for catching food. 
The Yeredo navalis, or Ship-Worm, when arrived 
at its full growth, closes up the end of the shell ; 
and it has been inferred that the animal, by this 
act, formed his own tomb, since he could no longer 
destroy the wood in which he was contained. But 
Sir Everard Home has ascertained, that in the 
Leredo gigantea, or Gigantic Teredo, death is not 
the consequence of this seclusion. He adduces a 
variety of curious facts to prove that the Ship-Worm, 
when arrived at its full growth, or when prevented 
from increasing in length, closes up the end of his 
shell, and lives a long time afterwards; being fur- 
