100 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



" The tentacular threads of this worm can be extended 

 to form a circle of two feet or more in diameter. 



In colour it is rose-pink, finely dusted with white, as 

 if it had been lightly sprinkled with flour. 



It is shown in Fig. 39. 



Closely resembling it, and more common, is the large, 

 limp Terebella nebulosa. 



Among these tubiculous worms there are a great number 

 of small species that are very beautiful Dasychone, about 

 an inch long, forming a parchmentlike tube, the flexible 

 end of which it rolls up when it retreats within, is found 

 in rock fissures and under boulders among sponges and 

 Ascidians. Its plumes are crossbanded chocolate and 

 white. 



Otkonia Fabricii is a diminutive species, not more than 

 a quarter of an inch long, often abundant among zoophytes 

 and Polyzoa, on the under side of boulders and in rock 

 pools. These two are allied to Sabella. 



Allied to Serpula is a pretty little worm which is very 

 abundant under boulders low down in tide range. This 

 is Filograna. Its little limy tubes, not stouter than strong 

 crochet cotton, cross and intertwine among each other so 

 as to form conspicuous white patches in such situations. 



In parting company with the worms I shall just mention 

 a very remarkable one. It is a tube builder, and lives in 

 its tube, but it has none of the characters of the foregoing. 

 Its name is Chcetopterus variopedatus a descriptive name, 

 sure enough " Bristle- winged and varied-footed." It is 

 pne of the most remarkable forms among the worms. 



A full-grown specimen is about eight inches long. Its 

 colour is milk-white, except the region of the stomach, which 

 is as a rule dark green (due to the small algae, etc., on which 

 it feeds). 



The mouth is funnel-shaped. The first nine pairs of 

 appendages are stout and conical, their anterior edge set 



