260 MISCELLANEOUS. 



7. NEREIS PHASMA 77ie Spectre Nereis. Plate XXXVI. Figs. 16, 17, 11. 



Nothing perplexes the observer more, than inability to obtain a 

 distinct view of all the parts of his living subject ; and, perhaps, this 

 may be one reason why naturalists have testified such a decided preference 

 for studying those poor creatures which they have deprived of life. 



If it be difficult to distinguish the parts of a subject, this must al- 

 ways aggravate the embarrassment of determining its systematic posi- 

 tion. 



Other observers may have experienced greater facility than has 

 fallen to my lot, or, without it, they may have followed the modern 

 fashion of those who, disappointed of analogies, institute a new genus as 

 the readiest method of solving the problem. 



One evening, early in January, while inspecting a vessel of sea- water, 

 my attention was attracted to an indistinct vortex amidst it, without 

 presenting any definite object to the view. This motion was connected, 

 however, with an air-bubble, certainly shifting it to different parts of the 

 vessel. I could account for neither. Nothing else was perceptible, and 

 it seemed still more singular, that I should afterwards witness the same by 

 day. But on altering the position of the vessel, so as to throw different 

 shades of light upon it and its contents, I discovered with much surprise 

 that the agent was a very active animal, by no means so diminutive as to 

 escape detection, but of such excessive transparence as to disguise its 

 form. Nor is this any exaggeration of the fact ; for having sent the 

 vessel to an accomplished artist, already named, Mr Peter Syme, for the 

 purpose of obtaining a delineation, I found, on reaching him, that he had 

 been unable to discover the object. However, by resorting to simi- 

 lar expedients as practised by myself, he could now represent the most 

 conspicuous parts of the animal. 



Nearly three years afterwards I obtained another specimen in No- 

 vember. Both occurred in a capacious jar of sea-water taken from about 

 the same place, Newhaven Pier. But with ample opportunities none 

 have been again found there. 



