318 SABELL^E. 



for nearly an hour in spite of repeated efforts to dis- 

 perse it by aid of a cainel hair pencil. At first I 

 believed the ' dust ' to be the ' remains ' of a deceased 

 serpula, but afterwards found that such was not the 

 case, the annelid being alive and healthy. Never 

 having seen the phenomenon since, it has been a 

 great source of regret to me that I did not endeavour 

 to discover what the dust was composed of; but 

 have little doubt that the microscope would have 

 shown it to be, in reality, the ova of the Serpula. 



Another class of Annelidans, termed Sabellse, like 

 the Serpulse, also build habitations for themselves, 

 but not of the same materials. Instead of being 

 white, the tubes of the first mentioned animals are 

 brown in colour, and composed of minute granules of 

 sand, or small shells, and lined internally with a 

 gelatinous substance exuded from the body of the 

 worm. On the interior of the oyster and other 

 shells, and even in univalves occupied by the Lobster 

 Grab, various tubes of Sabellao may often be seen. 

 They are, however, generally discovered congregated 

 together, forming a kind of honeycomb mass in the 

 fissures of rocks, or against the sides of rock-pools, or 

 on the surface of small stones, &c. 



A mass of Sabellae tubes forms by no means an 

 inappropriate or unpleasant object for the tank, as 

 the animals are hardy, and will live for many months 

 if the water be kept pure. Moreover, while in con- 

 finement, they do not live in luxurious indolence, but 



