COLOURING 



293 



from Jamaica, has a blue body with red para- 

 podia : whilst JVotojphyllum myriacyclum 

 has a brown body with longitudinal dark- 

 brown stripes and yellow parapodia. Both 

 these worms live in coral reefs, where 

 brilliancy of colour is one of the character- 

 istic features of the fauna. Other worms 

 are of various shades of green : the dark 

 green Arenicola with red gills; the bright 

 green Eidalia viridis ; the deep green 

 Amphinome smaragdina, from Jamaica : 

 Gnathosyllis diplodonta, with its green and 

 yellow body, serve as examples. 



Patterns or "markings" may be exem- 

 plified by Jjfj)idasthe?iia elegans (Fig. 156), 

 and Myrianida fasciata, which has a bright 

 red band on each segment (Fig. 149, p. 280). 

 From this brief list of examples it will 

 be seen that beautiful, and even brilliant, 

 coloration is not confined to any particular 

 mode of life; many of the most typically 

 tubicolous forms, like the Terebellids and 

 Scrpulids, are as brilliantly coloured as the 

 most typically free-swimming genera, like 

 the Phyllodocids. Carnivorous forms like 

 Amphinomids and Syllids present as wide 

 a range of tint as the limivorous forms 

 like Cirratidus, Sabella, or Maldanids. 

 SI 1 ore-lovers, and deep-sea dwellers, and 

 surface - swimmers, all exhibit equally 

 bright or equally sombre tints; it is 

 therefore difficult and rash to dogmatise 

 on the " use " of these colourings to these 

 animals, or to point to this worm as 

 being protectively, to the other as being 

 warningly, coloured ; for we are too ignorant 

 as to the habits of the worms. 



Protective and Mimetic Devices. 

 From the point of view of " protection " in 

 the evolutionist's sense of the word, we can 



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