182 TEREBELLA. 



conservation of the species being obviously of deeper interest than the 

 safety of the individuals composing it. 



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, as some others most interest- 

 ing to naturalists, is alike distinguished by address and perseverance in 

 producing works of art. It is even more admirable than many, for its 

 energies seem always ready to be roused, and its faculties prepared for 



exercise. * 



From the facility of obtaining materials, this creature's labours are 

 incessant, and from its being subject to a certain kind of controul, they 

 may be rendered a fund of great entertainment to observers. 



The genus Terebella has been rendered singularly confused even by 

 accomplished naturalists, partly, however, from overlooking the simpli- 

 city of its characters as applied to it in the Linnaaan Sy sterna Natures, in 

 as far as they go ; partly from being misled by indistinct and erroneous 

 description. Practical naturalists, those who look at animals as they 

 truly are, who do not embarrass themselves in searching after distinctions 

 so trivial that our skilful precursors never thought them worth their while, 

 cannot but acquit Gmelin of the reiterated charges of inaccuracy as em- 

 broiling genera. This was more the fault of his authorities than his own. 

 It originated especially from the want of figures, or from the employment 

 of those which, as in some of the present day, were unintelligible. Yet 

 in recent improvement, let us be merciful to our neighbours, recollect- 

 ing the innumerable obstacles to perspicuity in these most difficult pur- 



* It might prove a great convenience, if those who deal in nomenclature would explain 

 what is to be understood by the names which they confer on genera or species. To receive 

 as rock piercer, a character ascribed to the Terebella, by that interpretation of its name, 

 would be most absurd, at least in any that I have seen or heard of, for nothing seems more 

 adverse to their nature. All arc capable of constructing elevations, but none of the Terebell;c 

 proper can form a cavity in an indurated substance. The Terebellffi arc masons or builders 

 in the strictest sense. Lamarck comprehends them among the sedentary Annelides, cer- 

 tainly meaning to indicate habits (if he ever contemplated habits) opposite, to those of erratic 

 Annelides, which latter character he does not resort to as a distinction. 



