CHAPTER VI 

 THE SEA WORMS 



PLATE XXXI 



THE SEA MOUSE (i) 



TF you go down among the rocks when the 

 tide is out, and hunt in the muddy pools near 

 low-water mark, you will be almost sure to find 

 a very odd-looking creature indeed. It is gener- 

 ally between three or four inches long, and 

 although it is called a "Sea Mouse" it looks 

 very much more like a hairy slug; for its whole 

 body is covered with a matted coat of bristles. 

 But it is really a kind of sea worm. And it 

 looks just about as dull and dingy as any 

 creature can possibly be. 



Yet in reality it is one of the most beautiful 

 animals which are found in the sea, and if you 

 want to see its beauty, all that you have to do 

 is to wash it. For the bristly coat which covers 

 its body is a kind of filter, which strains out 

 the mud from the water which passes to the 

 gills; and it soon becomes so choked with mud 

 that you cannot see what the animal is really 

 like at all. All that it wants, however, is a 

 really good bath: so just take it to a pool of 



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