THE LUG-WOEM. 701 



surprising elongation of the tube will be discovered ; or, perhaps, instead of a simple 

 accession to its walls, the orifice will be surrounded by forking threads of sandy particles 

 agglutinated together." 



There are many species of Terebella, and even on our own coasts we may be gratified 

 with several beautiful forms of these interesting annelids. They have, to a considerable 

 extent, the power of reproducing lost portions of the body ; and it has been found that even 

 the whole mass of plumy tentacles can be removed without much injury to the Terebella, 

 which retreats to its tube, and after a while reproduces the whole of the missing organs. 



SHELL-BINDER. Terebella concMlega. 



The SHELL-BINDER is very plentiful on some ol our coasts, especially those where the 

 shells of variousjnolluscs are found in profusion. The tube of this species is built almost 

 entirely of little fragments of shell, and is of very great length so long, indeed, and going 

 so deeply into the sand and among the stones, that to procure a perfect specimen is almost 

 an impossibility, except by some rare good fortune. As this creature makes its dwelling 

 about midway between high and low water mark, it may sometimes be procured by 

 setting to work as soon as the tide has retreated, and, with crowbar, pick, and shovel, 

 making the best use of the few hours that can be given to the task. I have never yet 

 succeeded in extracting an entire tube, though I have often tried to do so. 



PASSING from the tube-inhabiting worms, we now come to those which are free and 

 able to move about at pleasure. 



No, one who has walked on any of our sandy coasts can have failed to notice the 

 numerous worm-casts which appear in the sand, between high and low water, being most 

 numerous where the sand is level, and becoming scarcer in proportion to the steepness of 

 the slope. Sometimes, when a large, marshy flat makes its appearance, which is never 

 entirely dry even at low water, these worm-casts become so numerous that the foot can 

 hardly be placed between them ; and even while the spectator is gazing on the wet sand, 

 coil after coil of dark sand emerges from below, as if Michael Scott's familiars were trying 

 to fulfil their task of making ropes from sea-sand. 



These sandy coils are the casts of the LUG-WORM, so valuable to fishermen as a bait, 

 and which, when well settled upon the hook, and tipped with a mussel, prove most 

 attractive to the whiting pout, rock cod, plaice, dabs, and other shore-loving fishes. 

 At every low tide the fishermen's boys may be seen busily digging for Lug-worms, or 

 Logs, as they generally term these annelids, and in a populous spot they will fill their 

 square wooden pails in a wonderfully short time. 



As a number of Lug-worms lie in a box, covered with sand, mud, and slime, twisting 

 and writhing about in continual movement, they have by no means an attractive aspect, 

 and might even be thought repulsive. But if a single worm be taken from the mass, 

 washed, and placed in a vessel of clear sea- water, it assumes quite a different aspect, and 

 becomes a really beautiful and interesting creature. Its colour is very variable, but 

 usually is dark green and carmine, some specimens being almost entirely of the latter hue. 

 Others, again, are nearly brown, and some of a deep red. 



