836 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOB. 



by it touches the human head, the hair, being at once destroyed, 

 falls off, leaving a bare spot ; added to this, a variety of ailments, 

 more or less formidable, were supposed to fall to the lot of any 

 person rash enough to handle the much dreaded hare. 



Bohadsch describes a most oppressive vapour or exhalation, 

 which he says he found given off by the Aplysia when laid on a 

 plate for investigation. Darwin speaks of his finding some of 

 the hare family at the Cape Verd which possessed the power 

 of causing a sharp stinging sensation to the fingers when 

 brought in contact with the secretions they threw off. Amongst 

 the ancient Romans the sea-hare was held in the most dire 

 dread, and nothing was too baneful to lay to its door. It is 

 related of Locusta that she made use of the sea-hare as one of 

 her most potent ingredients in the preparation of the poisons 

 destined to remove the secret enemies and plotters against Nero. 



red linear marking, as though drawn beneath the skin with a red 

 crayon. Mark its action closely, and you will see, at intervals 

 of a few seconds of time, that it gradually fades from the sight, 

 again dilates, ebbing and flowing as the tide of minute life 

 wells through it. This is the creature's grand central blood- 

 tube, or heart, conveying and propelling the red or arterial 

 blood from behind forwards, whilst beneath the body another 

 duct, equal in importance but not so plainly seen, conveys the 

 blood through the system in the opposite direction. In addition 

 to these two great longitudinal blood channels, there are four 

 others, so arranged that one traverses above the intestinal 

 canal, one below it. one on the right side, and another on the 

 left. These are all placed in communication by branching or 

 " anastomosing " vessels, running like the centre line in the 

 letter H. Here, then, in this apparently insignificant worm, we 



THE LIVING LINE (NEMERTIS BORLASIl). 



and that at length, when fully conversant with the qualities of a 

 hare potion, she prepared an extra strong one for the especial 

 delectation of royalty itself. It will also, perhaps, be borne in 

 tnind that Domitian was openly charged with having given 

 sea-hare poison to his brother Titus. Rigid laws were enacted 

 prohibiting even the search after this dreaded slug of the 

 sea, whose formidable qualities existed only in the fertile and 

 perverted imaginations of those who preferred dread to inves- 

 tigation, and mythical romance to plain reality. 



As we wander on, and prosecute our stone-mining operations, 

 we shall scarcely fail to uncover one or more members of an 

 exquisitely beautiful class of annelids, known as the pearly 

 nereis (Nereis margaritacea). These curious creatures in form 

 somewhat resemble small centipedes, but a little close scrutiny 

 will serve to bring under the observation of the investigator a 

 rich and varied collection of tints, pearl, opal, violet, and 

 metallic green. Look closely along the line where, in a verte- 

 brated animal, the back bone should be, and you will see a deep 



have a beautifully perfect form of double circulation. Added to 

 this, we find that the Nereis margaritacea is possessed of two 

 pairs of eyes of a deep, rich blue colour ; a pair of singularly 

 formed and ball-tipped horns, and eight delicately fine and sen . 

 sitive feelers, or whiskers, between which is situated a flexible*, 

 and retractile proboscis, or snout, by the aid of which food is 

 gathered from holes and crevices too small for the admission of 

 the body of the worm. 



As we travel onwards, where the ripple mark left by the 

 receding tide still holds a silken thread of sea-water between 

 its waved grooves, we shall see before us tiny heaps of sand 

 cast up, as though some diminutive mole of moist habits had 

 been at work below. Most of these will be found to be the 

 work of a much larger member of the family of annelids, in 

 form and habits closely resembling the lumbricus, or earth-worm 

 of our fields and gardens ; but we must reserve a consideration o. 

 them and their sea cousins, whose works we have just been 

 examining, until our next lesson. 



