322 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



back ; but when in activity, they spread widely out, 

 acting like so many oars to aid the animal's course 

 by their successive impulses on the water. It is a 

 pleasant thing to see a well-manned boat glide over 

 the smooth surface of the sea to watch the long 

 array of oars as silently they simultaneously dip and 

 rise again, all flashing in the evening sunshine ; but 

 such a sight is but a paltry spectacle compared with 

 that afforded by these gorgeous worms 400 pairs 

 of oars, instinct with life, harmoniously respond in 

 play so active that the eye can scarcely trace their 

 movements, save by the hues of iridescent splendour, 

 violet and blue, and green and gold, the very rain- 

 bow's tints, that indicate their course. 



In confinement, these magnificent Nereids can 

 seldom be preserved entire. Their body, unmanage- 

 able on account of its length, without ample space 

 wherein to perform its evolutions, is exposed to fre- 

 quent entanglement amongst surrounding objects, 

 and is often broken by the creature^s struggles to 

 get free ; yet, wonderful to state ! even this is by no 

 means an irreparable damage. A specimen kept by 

 Sir John Dalyell, measuring about twenty-two inches 

 in length, was mutilated by the loss of some of the 

 hinder segments of its body during the month of 

 October, and in eleven days the wanting joints had 

 been regenerated. But on the 22nd of January the 

 body of the same worm broke asunder near the middle. 

 Within three weeks the wound at the hinder extre- 

 mity of the anterior portion healed, and in the month 

 of April above fifty segments with their paddles had 

 been reproduced. The whole of the newly-formed 



