ITS FORM. AND HABITS. 137 



common house-spider. At all events, whether we were 

 intruding or not, in turning this stone, we must pay a 

 fine for having done so ; for there lies an animal, as foul 

 and monstrous to the eye as ' hydra, gorgon, or chimera 

 dire,' and yet so wondrously fitted for its work, that we 

 must needs endure for our own instruction to handle 

 and look at it. Its name I know not (though it lurks 

 here under every stone), and should be glad to know. 

 It seems some very ' low' Ascarid or Planariaii worm. 

 You see it? That black, slimy, knotted lump among 

 the gravel, small enough to be taken up in a dessert- 

 spoon. Look now, as it is raised and its coils drawn 

 out. Three feet ! Six nine at least, with a capability 

 of seemingly endless expansion ; a slimy tape of living 

 caoutchouc, some eighth of an inch in diameter, a dark 

 chocolate-black, with paler longitudinal lines. Is it 

 alive ? It hangs helpless and motionless, a mere velvet 

 string across the hand. Ask the neighbouring Annelids 

 and the fry of the rock fishes, or put it into a vase at 

 home, and see. It lies motionless, trailing itself among 

 the gravel ; you cannot tell where it begins or ends ; it 

 may be a strip of dead sea- weed, Himanthalia loreaj 

 perhaps, or Chorda filum ; or even a tarred string. So 

 thinks the little fish who plays over and over it, till he 

 touches at last what is too surely a head. In an instant 

 a bell- shaped sucker mouth has fastened to its side. In 



