66 Part second. 



Stichopus (Fig. 11), which is not round but flattened. Both of these 

 are very remarkable for containing frequently within their body a fish, 

 Fierasfer acus. 8 to 10 inches long, which at times may be seen pro- 

 truding its head from the anus of its host. It feeds on small crabs, 

 but to catch these it is obliged to leave its shelter. Some kinds of 

 Sea-cucumbers are considered a great delicacy by the Chinese; what they 

 call "Trepang" is nothing but the body of Holothuria edulis and other 

 kinds deprived of its intestines and dried in the sun or by the fire. 

 Thousands of people, chiefly Malays and Chinese, are employed in the 

 fishery and subsequent distribution; entire fleets put every year to the 

 coral islands between New-Holland and New -Guinea, where the fishing 

 is most profitable; but the result of their labour is only palatable to 

 the European taste when strong relishes have been added. Cucumaria, 

 see above page 65. 



ANNELIDS (RINGED WORMS.) 



The name ''worm" calls up in most minds a feeling of aversion, 

 since it is generally associated with such unpleasant forms as slimy earth- 

 worms and bloodthirsty leeches, tapeworms and trichinosis. While the 

 English word includes, besides these, Cleopatra's asp ("the pretty worm 

 of Nilus") and St. George's dragon ("the laidly worm"), the group of 

 which we are treating is more definite and less terrible. Indeed, in the 

 sea we find the large group to which the common Earthworm belongs, 

 the Annelids, competing in delicacy of form and beauty of colouring with 

 the most lovely Sea-anemones and other brilliant inhabitants of the deep. 

 This will impress itself on the reader as soon as he takes a look at the 

 worm-tank (Nr. 22) of our Aquarium, which sembles more a garden 

 of miniature palms than a collection of worms. 



The feathery spiral crowns of Spirographis (Fig. 121) wave about 

 at the end of their slender stalk, the brilliant red tassels of Protula 

 (Fig. 122) protrude from white calcareous tubes of irregular form, while 

 in another place a confused mass of such tubes is dotted over with 

 hundreds of many-coloured brushes, Hydroides (Fig. 124), all as delicate 

 as flowers, reminding one more of the children of goddess Flora, than 

 of animal forms. And yet all these organisms are true worms, which 

 have built these leathery or calcareous tubes for the protection of their 

 soft bodies, ringed and repulsive as the body of an Earthworm; the 

 feathery palm-like crowns are only the wreaths of gill branches round 

 their wormy heads. Touch one of these tiny crowns ever so lightly, 

 and instantly it disappears into the tube; the worm has withdrawn it- 

 self into its abode, where it waits until the supposed danger has pas- 

 sed. Then, slowly and carefully, a bunch of plumes, looking like a 

 camels-hair brush, will be pushed out of the tube; they will unwind 

 and spread out again in all their glory. Even a slight disturbance of 

 the water will frighten some of these worms into their hiding-places: 

 and in some of the smallest kinds this sensitiveness goes so far, that 

 they feel even the momentary darkening of the tank caused by a cloud 

 drifting across the face of the sun. 



