Life Beneath the Waves. 29 



inhabitant of each tube can push out and 

 draw back, at its pleasure, a bunch of 

 feathery tufts, extremely delicate in tex- 

 ture, and most brilliant and exquisite in 

 colour. These feathery tufts are the gills of 

 the Annelid. They vary very much in hue, 

 some being scarlet, some grey, green, blue 

 or brown. Others, again, are orange, dotted 

 with black, or light yellow, edged with 

 white; in short, the various colours are so 

 numerous, that when a group of bright 

 tufts is displayed at one time, the eifect is 

 almost as gay as that produced by flowers 

 in a conservatory. At the first glance no 

 very particular difference is to be ob- 

 served between Serpulse and Sabellas, but 

 a closer examination discovers distinct 

 characteristics. 



Upon looking at the illustration of the 

 Serpulse, something like a little cork on a 



