166 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



CHAPTER XX. 



WORMS. 



Are they in reality so helpless as is commonly supposed ? Beauty of the Free 

 Marine Ann elides Their Mode of Life Tubicolar Worms Leeches Earth- 

 worms Nemerta Gigantea Kotifera Their Complex Organisation and their 

 Habits, 



WORMS are commonly supposed to be the very images of help- 

 lessness and degradation their name is often used to express all 

 that is abject and low; but a closer inspection soon convinces us 

 that their organisation is far too wonderful to justify contempt, 

 and that, like every other work of their Divine Maker, they are 

 beautiful and perfect in their kind. Many of them, no doubt, 

 are so lowly placed in the scale of organic creation, that they 

 can only live, as parasites, upon the blood or juices of other 

 animals ; in many the structure of the body is reduced to very 



Nereis. 



simple elements, such as befit an indolent and inert existence; 

 but the higher members of the class, the vagrant marine anne- 

 lides, are richly provided with all the means of leading a life of 

 activity and enjoyment. 



A red blood circulates in their veins ; thousands of muscles 

 direct the serpentine movements of their body, which frequently 

 consists of several hundred segments or rings ; and each ring 



