SEA-WORMS. 117 



great length. They have more or less linear bodies, of equal 

 thickness for the greater part of their length, and consisting of 

 a great number of joints. The head is conical, and adorned 

 with several antennae. They are carnivorous creatures, and 

 have the proboscis armed with a pair of jaws well toothed. 

 The well-developed feet protrude from the side, and bear 

 gill- warts at their tips, and jointed bristles. One of the most 

 plentiful and striking of these is the Wilfry (Nereis pelagicd), 

 previously alluded to, a killing bait for sea-fishing, for no fish 

 can resist its glowing play of iridescence. The colour is a 

 pale fleshy -fawn, but with a succession of metallic gleams 

 shooting over it. It is six or eight inches long, and exceed- 

 ingly active in its movements. Its favourite habitat is the 

 foetid black muddy sand, rich in organic matter, that collects 

 in hollows between the rocks, or in the mud of brackish 

 creeks. 



If you desire a real good day's fishing, spend half of the 

 day before in grubbing for this worm, with bare legs in the 

 rich mud of such a creek ; a better plan is to pay somebody a 

 few pence per dozen to get them for you, and save yourself 

 much discomfort. 



Another species is the Pearly Nereis (Nephthys margari- 

 taced), similar to the Wilfry, but much smaller and running off to 

 a very slender point behind. The warm fawn colour of the 

 upper surface exhibits lively silvery iridescence, very sugges- 

 tive of mother o' pearl. The large proboscis is cleft in two 

 and adorned with a fringe of greenish processes. The large 

 feet carry each a leaf-like expansion in front of each branch, 

 and tufts of bristles. It occurs chiefly in the sand near low- 

 water. 



The Rainbow Leaf-worm (Phyllodoce lamelligerd) is one of 

 the most glorious of this group of worms, for each of its three 

 or four hundred segments bears a couple of expansive leaf-like 

 plates, which are the breathing organs. These are of a vivid 

 green colour, and on the back of the body proper this hue 



