292 NOVEMBER. 



no such supply. We may admit the facts, but refuse the 

 reasoning. There can be no manner of doubt that the 

 conical antenna does act as a stopper to the Serpula, as 

 our eyes can see ; and surely it would be most unphilo- 

 sophical to suppose that the function so performed is 

 not serviceable to the creature. Yet its near cousins, 

 the Sabellae, similarly constructed, and of similar habits 

 of life, and as we should have d priori supposed, quite 

 as liable to injury in the same direction, are entirely 

 destitute of this contrivance for protection, and of any- 

 thing compensating for it, so far as is known. Why 

 the need of one should be met by such a beautiful con- 

 trivance, while the same need in the other is wholly 

 unmet, though both are formed by the same Infinite 

 God, is one of those unanswerable questions which, while 

 they leave unimpeached His wisdom, make us deeply 

 conscious of our own ignorance. 



We find numerous examples of this genus Sabella iu 

 our confused heap of tangled life and death. By their 

 vigour and their abundance we have proof enough that 

 their wants are supplied, though they do not enjoy 

 this special contrivance : they manage to live and thrive 

 and enjoy themselves, with open doors, taking all risks 

 of insidious robbers, such, for instance, as that vile 

 burglar, the Longworm, 1 that we found under a stone 



1 Vide supra, p. 135. 



