THE NEREIDS. 



703 



horny jaws. In the typical genus the eyes are four, arranged in a sort of square, and the 

 tentacles are four in number. The proboscis is thick, strong, and armed with two jaws. 



The beautiful Nereids may be found plentifully on our coasts, mostly hiding under 

 stones and rocks, or hiding in the sand. They are well worthy of examination under the 

 microscope ; and, perhaps, the best method of making out the structure of these beautiful 

 creatures is by taking a single segment and noticing its construction. On the back 

 are seen certain tufts of different shapes in the various species, but all agreeing in being 

 composed of numerous blood-vessels ramifying in a most complicated manner. These are 

 the gills, or branchiae, of the Nereis. 



On each side are seen the organs of locomotion, sometimes consisting of a single, but 

 mostly of a double, row of oars. Each oar is formed of a strong muscular footstalk, from 

 the extremity of which proceeds a bundle of stiff bristles and a variously formed flap, 

 which is technically called the "cirrus." If the bristles be examined separately, their 

 wonderful forms cannot fail to attract admiration. They no longer appear as the simple 

 hairs which the naked eye would assume them to be, but are transformed, as it were, into 



PhylUdoce Paretti. 

 fT&reis Margaritdcea 



a very arsenal of destructive weapons, the barbed spear the scimetar, the sabre, the 

 sword-bayonet, and the cutlass, all being represented ; while there is no lack of more 

 peaceful instruments, such as the grapnel, the sickle, and the fish-hook. 



The Nereids will live for a time in a shallow basin half filled with sea-water, and are, 

 therefore, valuable to those who really desire to study for themselves the beautiful forms 

 ivlth which they are surrounded, and which, but for the microscope, would ever be hidden 

 from our eyes. The observer should not fail to examine the formidable proboscis with its 

 terrible jaws. While the worm is at rest, this proboscis is retracted like the finger of 

 a glove, and the jaws appear to be situated in the neck, where, indeed, they were once 

 taken for a gizzard. But either by dissection or applying pressure in the right direction, 

 the jaws can be drawn out, and are then found to be destructive weapons at the end 

 of the proboscis. Many years ago, while examining, for the first time, a Nereis which 

 I had found on the sea-shore, I took this structure for a gizzard, and find, on reference to 

 my note-book, that a sketch of these internal jaws is marked with the title, " Gizzard of 

 the above." 



