Part second. 



Trepang is nothing but the body of Holothuria edulis and other 

 kinds deprived of its intestines and dried in the sun or by the fire. Thou- 

 sands of people, chiefly Malays and Chinese, are employed in its fishery 

 and subsequent distribution ; entire fleets put every year to the coral 

 islands between New-Holland and New-Guinea, where the fishing is most 

 profitable; but the result of their labour is only palatable to the European 

 taste when strong relishes have been added. Cucumaria , see above 

 page 65. 



ANNELIDS (RINGED WORMS). 



The name worm calls up in most minds a feeling of aversion, 

 since it is generally associated with such unpleasant forms as slimy earth- 

 worms and bloodthirsty leeches , tapeworms and trichinosis. While the 

 English word includes, besides these, Cleopatra's asp ( the pretty worm 

 of Nilus ) and St. George's dragon ( the laidly worm ), the group of 

 which we are treating is more definite and less terrible. Indeed , in the 

 sea we find the large group to which the common Earthworm belongs, 

 the Annelids, competing in delicacy of form and beauty of colouring with 

 the most lovely Sea-anemones and other brilliant inhabitants of te deep. 

 This will impress itself on the reader as soon as he takes a look at the 

 worm-tank (Nr. 22) of our Aquarium, which resembles more a garden of 

 miniature palms than a collection of worms. 



The feathery spiral crowns of Spirographis (Fig. 121) wave about 

 at the end of their slender stalk , the brilliant red tassels of Protula 

 (Fig. 122) protrude from white calcareous tubes of irregular form, while 

 in another place a confused mass of such tubes is dotted over with hun- 

 dreds of many-coloured brushes, Hydroides (Fig 124), all as delicate 

 as flowers , reminding one more of the children of the goddess Flora, 

 than of animal forms. And yet all these organisms are true worms, which 

 have built these leathery or calcareous tubes for the protection of their 

 soft bodies, ringed and repulsive as the body of an Earthworm; the fea- 

 thery palm-like crowns are only the wreaths of gill branches round their 

 wormy heads. Touch one of these tiny crowns even so slightly, and in- 

 stantly it disappears into the tube; the worm has withdrawn itself into 

 its abode , where it waits until the supposed danger has passed. Then, 

 slowly and carefully, a bunch of plumes, looking like a camels-hair brush 

 will be pushed out of the tube ; they will unwind and spread out again 

 in all their glory. Even a slight disturbance of the water will frighten 

 some of these worms into their hiding-places; and in some of the smallest 

 kinds this sensitiveness goes so far, that they feel even the momentary 

 darkening of the tank caused by a cloud drifting across the face of 

 the sun. 



In the sea we may often see a natural garden of this kind; looked 

 at through the clear water of a rocky coast it is an enchanting sight, 

 and always yields a rich harvest to the naturalist, not only of these 

 worms , but of rnay other animals which have taken up their abode 

 amongst them. The tube is merely a house formed by the worm , and 



