1133 



TUBIFERA. 



TUBULIBRANCHIATA. 



1131 



Fiylufana data. (Sowcrby.) 



1, showing the tube with a septum, a ; 2, outside of the valve* ; 3, inside 

 of the same. (G. B. Soverbr, ' Genera.') N.B. Mr. Sowerby figures also a 

 tube of thi species without a septum. 



TUBI'FERA, an order of Polyi>iaria. 



TUBIPOR.EA, or TUBIPO'KIN/E. [PoLYl'lFEru.] 



TUHULARIAD^:. [HYDBOIDA.] 



TUBULIBRANCHIATA, an order of Gasteropodoug Mollusca, 

 consists of the genera Vtrmetut, Magttua, and Stliguaria. 



Vermetui (Adanson), has a tubular shell, the whorls of which, in 

 the early age of the animal, form a kind of spire, but afterwards are 

 prolonged into a tube more or leas twisted or bent, like those of the 

 tubes of Serpulw. The shell is ordinarily fixed in an interlaced group 

 of the same species, or partly enveloped in Lithophytet. As the 

 animal does not creep, there is no foot properly so called ; but that 

 which in the ordinary gastropods forms the tail is bent downwards 

 and carried forward in front of the head, where its extremity expands 

 into a macs furnished with a delicate operculum which closes the 

 entrance to the tube : it has sometimes various appendages, and its 

 operculum is spiny in some species. The head of the mollusc is 

 obtuse, and carries two moderate tentacles, which have the eyes at 

 the sides of their external base. The mouth is a vertical orifice, and 

 beneath it is seen on each side a filament which has all the appear- 

 ance of a tentacle, but which in reality belongs to the foot. Their 

 branchiie only form one row, along the left side of the branchial 

 vault. 



Cuvier remarks that the species are rather numerous, but not very 

 distinct. 



V. denlifenu, a native of Australia, may be taken as an example. 



f'ermcfiti dtiili/entt. 

 a, shell ; !>, animal. (' Astrolabe.') 



A single specimen of Vermetus luiiibricalu, showing the spire. 



Gio'ip of 1'i'nnett, &c. 



The number of species of Vermetus recorded by M. Deshayea iu LU 

 ' Tables' amounts to eight living and one fossil (tertiary, from Angers). 

 Vermetus occurs below the chalk : thus Dr. Fitton records six species, 

 from the upper greensand, the gault, the lower greensand, Black- 

 down, and the Hastings sand. 



The following are noticed by Messrs. Quoy and Gaimnrd ('Zoology 

 of the Astrolabe'), iu addition to V. dentiferiu : V. Zelandicmi, V. 

 giyanteue, V. carinalus, and V. roscua. 



Vermcli have been found at depths varying from near the surface 

 to twelve fathoms, in sponges, under stones, on shells, in coral-sand, 

 and sand. 



Siliquaria (Brug.), resembling Vci-mehis in the head, in the position 

 of the operculum, and in the tubular irregular shell, which has, how- 

 ever, throughout its length a slit which follows all its windings, and 



