36 



shell should, subsequently, be immersed in spirit for a short 

 time, or else be anointed internally with arsenical soap, to 

 prevent the attacks of insects. This class of animals is very 

 numerous, and will well repay collecting and studying. The 

 small kinds, however minute, should be assiduously sought 

 for and preserved. 



ANNELIDS, OK WOKMS. 



Under the lowly designation of worms are included a con- 

 siderable variety of creatures, which, though less frequently 

 studied and collected, perhaps, than any others, a,re well worthy 

 of attention. Many are really very beautiful when seen in a 

 living state. The nereids, which burrow in sand or mud, 

 when swimming reflect brilliant iridescent tints, and make 

 their way through the water by a series of most graceful 

 curves, which no one who is fortunate enough to see them can 

 fail to admire. So little are they sought after, that though 

 beautiful specimens, a foot in length, are to be found buried 

 deep in the shores of the Mersey, they are almost as little 

 known as if they inhabited the antipodes ; and the exhibition 

 of specimens in the Aquaria, at the Free Public Museum, 

 never fails to elicit the admiration of all who see them. Other 

 members of the tribe form tubes of sand and shell, by means 

 of their flexible and extensive feelers, working like so many 

 miniature elephants' trunks ; other kinds spread out beyond 

 the leathery tube in which they live, a beautiful spiral disc, 

 like a plume of delicate feathers, which they instantly retract 

 on the slightest alarm ; others, again, form calcareous tubes, 

 the mouth of which they close against all intruders by a most 

 exquisitely contrived stopper. These are examples of a portion 

 only of the numerous class of Annelids. They are to be sought 

 for under stones, or buried more or less deep in sand or mud ; 

 their whereabouts being generally betrayed by some orifice, or 

 depression, or by castings thrown up out of their holes. Those 

 which burrow must be dug for with a spade or three-pronged 



