464 



NA TURE 



[September 29, 1923 



Mcintosh sees in his eighty-fifth year the completion 

 of his magnificent work. Tlirough the years he has 

 pursued with such admirable singleness of mind, amid 

 many other occupations, the study of this neglected 

 group of marine animals. When he so modestly 

 " hopes that they are left in a better state than he 

 found them, thanks to the greater attention zoologists 

 in every clime have bestowed on the Marine Polychaets," 

 we can only reply that his name stands foremost among 

 investigators of the Polychaeta during a period of great 

 and unexampled progress, in which his broad com- 

 prehensive studies have been supplemented, and are 

 now necessarily succeeded, by the work of specialists in 

 the different families. 



The Ray Society is scarcely less to be congratulated 

 on the way in which it has persevered with the pro- 

 duction of the final parts of the monograph during 

 the lean years after the War. So much stands to the 

 credit of the Ray Society in the past for its wonder- 

 fully illustrated volumes by Allman. Alder and Hancock, 

 and many others, which have done so much to create 

 the reputation of British marine zoolog)', that we cannot 

 sufficiently praise the vigour and enterprise, with un- 

 impaired excellence of execution, which the Society 

 still displays. It is earnestly to be hoped that it may 

 receive the increased support from zoologists which it 

 now so greatly needs. 



(i) " Such synonymes as would signify mason or 

 potter, might be aptly applied in explaining the character 

 and habits of the Terebella. Nothing could be more 

 appropriate, for this animal is alike distinguished by 

 address and perseverance in producing works of art." 

 This tribute to one of the despised tribe of worms is 

 paid by Sir John Dalyell in " The Powers of the Creator 

 declared in the Creation," a book which embodies his 

 patient and extended observ'ations on the habits of 

 marine animals. In the first part of the last volume of 

 Prof. Mcintosh's great monograph five famihes of tube- 

 building polychaets are described, the Hermellidae, 

 Amphictenidae, Terebellidae, Ampharetidae and Sabel- 

 lidae, and the first three exhibit in the highest degree 

 that craftsmanship which always awakens a sympathetic 

 chord in the human observer. 



The Terebellidae, of which twenty-four species are 

 here described, is the best known of these families. 

 The basis of the tube which they inhabit is a secretion 

 of the skin glands which often hardens to the consistency 

 of parchment. In this while it is still soft the animal 

 embeds, on the outer surface, the foreign bodies which 

 it so assiduously collects. It is a common but always 

 fascinating sight to see the countless tentacles of a 

 terebellid spreading in all directions from the opening 

 of its tube. With a lens, a multitude of particles can 

 be detected moving along the ciliated groove on the 

 NO. 2813, VOL. 112] 



surface of each tentacle, toward the mouth. Prof 

 Mcintosh quotes the following passage from Dal 

 describing this never-ceasing activity: "Nothm 

 more surprising than the attention of so humble an 

 artist being directed towards such a variety of op' ra 

 tions at the same time. Many tentacula are sear< i 

 after the materials — many in collection — many beannj: 

 them to the edifice — some quitting their hold — others 

 recovering the load — while the architect itself seems 

 occupied in kneading masses in its mouth, disgorging 

 them successively, or in polishing the rude workman- 

 ship resulting from its labours." The worm thus 

 described, the " Potter " of Dalyell, Amphitrite figulus , 

 builds tubes of mud, but others like Lanicf conchiUga 

 use grains of sand or even carefully select fragments of 

 shell. There are still more fastidious forms like those 

 Japanese examples mentioned by Prof. Mcintosh as 

 collected by the Challenger, which gather pine needles 9 

 and stick them lengthwise on the tube, and in the 

 Cretaceous there occur tubular structures composed of 

 bones and scales of fishes which Bather assigns to the 

 activities of Terebellids. 



The Amphictenidae include such well-known forms 

 as Pectinaria belgica, a very abundant worm. The re- 

 viewer remembers seeing the Belgian coa.st in 191 7 

 strewn with millions of this form washed out of the 

 sand after heavy weather. Their slightly cur\ed tubes 

 are miracles of workmanship. Prof. Mcintosh in his 

 description of this and other forms has quoted largely 

 from the work and reproduced some of the drawings of 

 Mr. A. T. Watson, to whom we owe so many fascinating 

 accounts of the methods of annelid artificers. 



If the tubes of the Terebellids and Pectinaria are 

 usually hidden from view, Sabellaria among the Her- 

 mellidae often forms conspicuous masses of firmly 

 cemented tubes between tidemarks covering large 

 surfaces of rock. Unlike other " social " polychats 

 (e.g. Filograna, Phyllochaetopterus and Potamilla 

 torelli, all described in this work) they do not re- 

 produce asexually, and some other explanation must 

 be sought for their gregarious nature. 



The Sabellidae again are among the most interesting 

 of tube builders. The crown of finely divided processes 

 around the head, so beautifully portrayed in Prof. 

 Mcintosh's plates, are referred to here (as is usual else- 

 where) .as branchial, but we venture to think that 

 Bounhiol's experiments, made in 1890, show that they 

 have no special respiratory value. But, indeed, the 

 comparative study of the respiration of the tubicolous 

 worms offers a ver\' profitable investment for the time 

 of a biologist. 



(2) In the second part of Vol. 4 the description of 

 the Sabellidae is continued, and the last family, the 

 Serpulidac, is treated. Here the tubes are always 



