WORMS. 307 



ably cliitine) tliat rivals in transparency and brilliancy 

 the pnrcst flint-g-lass. 



I migiit adduce a vast variety of examples of these 

 organs in the Marine "Worms, all of Avhich would charm 

 yon by their elegance and by their extreme diversity ; 

 but I have other things to show you in this interesting 

 class of animals, which fortunately are so common on all 

 our shores, that you will have no difficulty in procur- 

 'ng plenty of specimens for your private observation 

 and study. And if you need intelligent guidance, you 

 cannot have a better mentor than Dr. Williams, whose 

 admirable " Report on the British Annelidne " I have 

 just cited. 



Before we dismiss our little Phyllodoce to its home 

 in the aquarium, we must try to get a sight of its 

 pretty mouth. The Worms are somewhat wayward in 

 displaying tliis part of their charms, sometimes expos- 

 ing it at intervals of a second or two for very many 

 times in succession, at others sullenly keeping it 

 closed ; and no efforts that I am aware of on our part 

 will induce the display : we must await their pleasure. 

 It is, in fact, a turning of the throat inside out. In 

 most of the Worms the head is minute, and what seems 

 to be the mouth is but the orifice from which the throat 

 or proboscis is everted. In the Phyllodoces this organ 

 is a great muscular sac, in some species equalling in 

 length one-fourth of the wdiole body. 



Ila ! there it appears ! What a chasm yawns in 

 the under side of the head, as the interior begins rap- 

 idly to protrude, turning inside out as it comes forth, 

 like a living stocking, until it assumes the form of an 

 enormous {comparatively enormous, of course) pear- 

 shaped bag, the surface of which is beset with a multi- 



