SABELLA. 



259 



if furrowed by age, with portions of the bark injured below by decay, 

 but fresher and smoother above, where visibly more recent and 

 entire. 



"When originally withdrawn from the sea, the orifice of the 

 higher extremity is closed by compression of the sides ; and if the 

 lower part be not ruptured, it tapers down to the point of adhesion. 

 All the intermediate space is quite smooth, when free of corrugations, 

 very elastic to the touch, with the peculiar softness of moistened 

 leather. And, on the whole, when clear and perfect, this submarine 

 product bears the narrowest resemblance to a tube of caoutchouc 

 manufactured by human art. 



" We now behold it in its simplest state ; but, on plunging this 

 dark, artificial-looking tube amidst a quantity of recent sea-water, 

 the compression above relaxes, and a few air-bubbles escape ; the tip 

 of a variegated pencil is gradually protruding, which suddenly unfolds 

 as a splendid plume, composed of many feathers. Thus it remains 

 stationary and motionless, or perhaps it commences a slow, regular 

 horizontal revolution, as if the spokes of an unbound wheel with their 

 vertical axle only. An admirable spectacle is offered to the view. 

 We see a living creature, of infinite beauty, in motion for some pur- 

 pose, or discharging some function unintelligible. Let the slightest 

 shock be communicated, and the whole instantaneously collapses and 

 disappears within the tube, almost before its image has faded from 

 the eye." — Balyell. 



Obs. The filaments in the branchiae vary from 30 to 80 or 90, 

 and, when combined and expanded, constitute an organ of exquisite 

 beauty, the ground-colour straw-yellow beautifully spotted with 

 brown, yellow, orange, green and red, often forming broad fasciae in 

 their union. There are 12 thoracic and about 300 abdominal seg- 

 ments in a good specimen. The bristles offer no specific peculiarity. 



From the sameness of their characters, it seems almost certain 

 that this and the preceding are the same species in different stages 

 of maturity. It is not the Sabella ventilabrum of Gmelin, which is 

 founded on the "Maltese Tubular Coralline" {Ellis, Cor all. 92. 

 pi. 34), and is a very doubtful member of this genus ; nor is it the 

 Sabella penicillus of Savigny. 



(«) Berwick Bay, Dr. Johnston. 



{b) Berwick Bay, Br. Johnston. 



(c) South coast of Devon, Mus. Leach. 



3. S. vesiculosa, body elongated, as thick as a quill ; branchiae in 

 two equal tufts, with numerous fringed filaments, each with a dark- 

 coloured tubercle, on the inner side, beneath the plain setaceous 

 point ; tentacula 2, setaceous ; setigerous feet of the thorax in eight 

 pairs. Length 6-7" ; breadth 3'". — Tube coriaceous, coated with 

 sand and fragments of shells. Length 10-12". 



Araphitrite vesiculosa, Montagu in Linn. Trans, xi. 19. tab. 6. f. 1. 

 Lam. Anim. s. Vert. v. ; 2de edit. v. 610. Stark, Elem. ii. 133. 



s 2 



