324 TOILERS IN THE SEA. 



and carefully examine these marvellous forms. Do 

 but drop into a basin of sea-water this fragment 

 of a rock, and this old shell, whose surface is covered 

 with serpulas and other tube-worms. Observe the 

 prudent caution with which that little round plate 

 rises above each tube, which it is designed to close 

 hermetically, so that your eyes cannot penetrate to 

 the interior. This is the shutter of the house ; see, 

 it is moving, the animal will soon show himself. 

 Look, and you will see, below that operculum, bud- 

 like patches of dark violet or rich carmine in one 

 part, and of a blue or orange tint in another, while 

 still further on appear tufts of every hue. See them 

 expand, little by little, until they have displayed the 

 whole of their thousand coloured branches, similar 

 in form to a plume of ostrich or marabout feathers. 

 You are a witness of the evolution of veritable 

 flowers, more beautiful by far than the blossoms 

 of our gardens, for these are living flowers. On the 

 least shock, on the slightest shaking of the fluid, 

 these brilliant petals close, and, disappearing with 

 the rapidity of lightning, they retire within their 

 stony tubes, whence they may defy their enemies 

 from beneath the shelter of their operculum." l 



One of the most remarkable of the tubeworms 

 observed by Dalyell was called by him " the Weaver " 



1 Quatrefages, " Rambles of a Naturalist," vol. i. p. 108. 



