DORSIBRANCHIATA ' THE SEA-MOUSE. 165 



trie circles of gilded hairs, and ending in a head sur- 

 mounted by a branching crown, which reflects rainbow 

 colours. The whole resembles a bed densely covered 

 with fairy flowers of strange shape and delicate struc- 

 ture. 



Such are some of the commoner kinds of Tubicolar 

 Annelides ; those of the Dorsibranchiate order, which 

 we commonly meet with in dredging, are still more 

 beautiful, and some of them are among the most splen- 

 didly coloured objects that the animal kingdom presents 

 to us. The rainbow tints of the humming-bird, and 

 the metallic lustre of the gayest beetle, have their equals 

 in many of the members of this family of worms. If 

 we are free from associations of disgust at the worm-like 

 body, we cannot help being struck with the beauty of 

 its clothing, or the really graceful motions of these little 

 animals, gliding like serpents among the crevices of 

 rocks and shelly masses, or half swimming, half crawling 

 along the bottom of a rock-pool. Naturalists, struck 

 with their beauty and grace, have assigned to them 

 the names of nymphs, as Nereis, Euphrosyne, Eunice, 

 Alciopa, Aphrodita, and others. Our British seas fur- 

 nish examples of many of these genera, but, as yet, 

 the several species have not received, from British 

 naturalists, that close attention which they deserve, and 

 a monograph, illustrated by figures, is much wanted 

 for their elucidation. 



A great variety of species, varying in size and form, 

 may be observed in dredging. One of these, which sel- 

 dom fails to attract the dredger's notice by the lustre of 

 its coat, though its frequency may cause it to be thrown 



