156 ITS UNSUITABLENESS FOR THE AQUARIUM. 



stituting, it must be admitted, a most extensive and 

 wonderful locomotive apparatus. 



This Annelid is not a suitable object for the 

 aquarium, on account of its frequent great length, and 

 the consequent likelihood of its getting entangled 

 among stones and rock- work when in search of food. 



If the hinder parts be cut off, as has been already 

 hinted, they will exhibit vitality for a considerable 

 period when placed in water, but we are told it is the 

 anterior (?) portion of the Phyllodoce which alone 

 possesses the power of regenerating lost segments ; 

 these will be reproduced sometimes at the rate of three 

 or four in a week. 



' These creatures/ says a learned author, ' as 

 might be expected from their activity and erratic 

 habits, are carnivorous ; and innocent and beautiful 

 as they look, they are furnished with weapons of de- 

 struction of a unique and most curious description. 

 The mouth of the Nereis would seem at first to be a 

 simple opening, quite destitute of teeth ; but on 

 further examination, this aperture is found to lead into 

 a capacious bag, the walls of which are provided with 

 sharp, horny plates, even more terrible than those 

 which are occasionally to be met with in the gizzards 

 of some of the higher animals. It is not surprising, 

 therefore, that by many anatomists the structure in 

 question has been described as a real gizzard, or by 

 some as the stomach itself. A little attention to the 

 habits of the living Annelid will, however, soon re- 



