94 NATURAL HISTORY OP OUR SHORES 



This species grows to a length of nearly two feet, and is 

 as stout as a lady's finger. Like Nereis, it gleams with 

 beautiful tints of green, red, and gold. The branchial 

 appendages on each side fold over the back, and are blood- 

 red, hence sanguined. It lives in rock crevices or " cleavage 

 faults," where there is room between these for a deposit 

 of sand and mud. Fishermen obtain it by prising off loose 

 fragments of rock with a crowbar or a pick, but it is also 

 found among loose, sunken stones. 



It is a valuable bait. To obtain a specimen entire is a 

 matter of some little difficulty, as it breaks readily, and 

 nine out of ten that are taken bear traces of repair, in the 

 way of , new segments at the tail end. The one shown 

 in Plate 36 is really little more than the anterior third 

 of one, and it is in process of adding fresh segments. This 

 is plainly shown in the photo. 



Of considerable length a foot or more and of nearly 

 uniform thickness all along, nearly round, and of about 

 the diameter of a goose quill, is Lumbrinereis tricolor. 

 This species also glows with rainbow colours. It is found 

 in shell gravel, generally among rocks, but sometimes in 

 the open shore near low-tide limit. 



Glycera dubia is another large worm, living in the same 

 localities. It is about as stout as a penholder, but tapering 

 gradually to a fine point. It has not the gorgeous tints 

 of its congeners, but is a pale, even brown. 



This is a very short list of the Errantia, but it gives the 

 chief types. A gravelly shore, among scattered rocks and 

 Zostera beds, is a prolific hunting ground, and in such 

 localities more species can be obtained in an hour than 

 could be described with the pen in a week. 



Now we will pass to those that habitually construct 

 tubes and live in them the " Tubiculous " worms or 

 Sedentaria. 



First of these, not by reason of any zoological character 



