136 LUMBRICUS. 



depth below ; which few of the better informed have had an opportu- 

 nity of beholding, or of withdrawing from its dark abodes ; circumstances 

 which render me the more desirous of presenting the lively image of one 

 of the most curious of Nature's works to those who wish to become ac- 

 quainted with its appearance. 



1. This animal, the fisherman's worm, extends ten inches in length 

 by nearly half an inch in thickness, the body being cylindrical, and sub- 

 divided into very numerous segments. It diminishes slightly towards 

 each extremity. Plate XIX., fig". 1. The animal occasionally displays 

 the formation of the head or anterior extremity, as shewn in fig 2, of a 

 globular shape, with a hollow centre, which Miiller considers a proboscis. 

 It generally protrudes this when the animal is very weak. 



A double row of about eighteen pencils commences near the ante- 

 rior, composed of bristles issuing from the sides of the animal, occupying 

 the greater part of the whole length, and terminates where the body is 

 suddenly reduced in size, and assumes for the remainder quite a diffe- 

 rent aspect, as if of more uniform nature, with a shagreen surface. 



Thirteen pair of beautiful vermilion branchiae rise from the back, 

 commencing about a third of the length from the anterior extremity, 

 fig. 1, a, b. These organs are of inconceivable beauty and interest, of 

 which the art of the limner can produce but a very imperfect representa- 

 tion, difficult enough otherwise to be obtained, both from the incessant 

 contraction and dilatation, and the motion of the animal. By the 

 microscope the resemblance of each to vegetable forms is discovered in 

 stem, boughs, and branches, all in lively action, fig. 3. 



The quantity of bristles in a pencil, and the size of the branchiae, 

 are indefinite and irregular, the smallest being next the head. 



The diversity of colour in this species is very great ; nor do I know 

 that it is dependent on either age or dimensions. Of a number collected 

 together some will be found of a carmine colour, or_ of deeper red, some 

 brownish, and others blackish-green ; besides, there are specimens which 

 exhibit various blending shades in the same individual. 



Dwelling constantly in the dark, not only deep in the sand, but 



