SERPULA. CREEPER. 153. 



sometimes the ridge on the back is obsolete, and frequently 

 there are two other small ridges, one on each side the dor- 

 sal elevation. 



Variety. Dark olive green with a short space about the 

 aperture clear white or tinged with red $ the dorsal ridge 

 serrated by the strong transverse ridges, and produced in 

 front into a white tooth-like projection. 



On shelly and other substances, v. v. 



12. Serpula complexa* Complex Creeper. 



Shell opake, perfectly cylindrical and of equal diameter 

 its whole length, not spreading at the sides, slightly wrin- 

 kled transversely and a little flexuous, of a dirty white or 

 grey color, growing together in numerous compact en- 

 twined groups of from five to fifty in each, which divaricate 

 in a straight or curved line, and attach themselves to other 

 clusters, so as to form altogether a sort of reticulate mass, 

 the interstices of which are about a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter, and which again branch out both in extent and 

 height, terminating at length in close-set flat-topped tufts 

 resembling minute honey-combs: those which do not reach 

 the top, but exhaust themselves in the formation of the 

 branches, are attached at both ends, and often detached and 

 separate in the middle 5 and sometimes one or more coa- 

 lesce together with others in an anastomosing manner, 

 forming a very minute net-work : their length individually 

 is from an inch to an inch and a half; and their diameter 

 does not exceed that of. the very finest thread. 



Masses of this beautiful and coral-like species, entwined 

 together like clusters of minute serpents, and supported 

 only by each other, are occasionally but rarely dredged up 

 on the Devonshire coast. Our largest specimen, consisting 

 of many thousands of individuals, measuring seven inches 

 long, five wide, and four in height, hardly vreighs three 

 ounces ; and from the appearance of the general base 

 seems to have been affixed to a rock under the ocean. A 

 small fragment was pointed out to us by Mr. Loscombe, as 

 very well represented at plate 10. fig. 18. of Humphrey's 

 and Da Costa's Conchology, but without description. 

 k It differs from S. gloinerata in being smooth, v. v. 



13. Serpila 



