THE SABELLA 97 



PLATE XXXI 

 THE SABELLA (2) 



A good many different kinds of worms live 

 on the sea-shore, and one of the most curious 

 of these is the Sabella. For it lives in long, 

 narrow tubes made of tiny grains of sand, which 

 it sticks together with a kind of natural glue. 

 You may find these tubes in great numbers 

 just about low-water mark, and hundreds and 

 hundreds of them are often twisted up together 

 in great masses, which are sometimes several 

 feet in diameter. The worms can travel up and 

 down these tubes by means of tufts of stiff little 

 bristles on each side of their bodies; and some- 

 times they will leave them altogether, crawl 

 about on the sand for a little while, and then 

 make new ones. And if you keep them alive 

 in a glass vessel filled with sea-water, with a 

 little sand at the bottom, you can watch them 

 building their wonderful tubes, carefully choosing 

 grains of sand of just the proper size, arranging 

 them in position just as a bricklayer lays bricks, 

 and then sticking them firmly together. 



