192 ANECDOTE. 



upon the glass, and elevated by gentle stages up 

 each side of the vessel until the level of the water 

 was reached, when all further labours ceased for a 

 time. 



After the lapse of a few days the building opera- 

 tion was resumed, and the tube carried fully an inch 

 further, at right angles to its former position. The 

 opposite end of the structure was next extended at 

 an angle of 45 from the base of the vase, to a height 

 of about two inches. Then commenced a very curi- 

 ous phenomenon. Some of the tentacles were in- 

 cessantly elevated and extended across the vessel, 

 until they touched the opposite end of the tube, with 

 what object I could not then conceive. The design, 

 however, was afterwards made evident : in less 

 than two days the animal succeeded in making 

 both ends of its tube meet together, so as to form a 

 continuous circle. I happened to be watching the 

 mason, when the last stroke of his labial trowel was 

 given to the building, and shall never forget the 

 cautious way in which the animal crept for the first 

 time over the newly-completed portion of the work, 

 and the seeming delight with which it continued to 

 glide, hour after hour, over the entire circuit of its 

 dwelling-place. 



Sometimes its body would be long drawn out, 

 until the tips of the tentacula would reach, and ap- 

 parently tickle the extreme point of the tail; then 

 a race would commence, in character exactly re- 



