170 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



fixed on an entirely uncovered point. These little 

 hillocks or mounds which look very much like a thick 

 piece of honeycomb are in reality villages or popu- 

 lous cities, in which live in modest seclusion certain 

 tubicolous Annelids, known by the name of Hermel- 

 las creatures as curious as any that fall under the 

 notice of the naturalist. Their body, which is about 

 two inches in length, is terminated anteriorly by a 

 bifurcated head, bearing a double bright golden- 

 coloured crown of strong, sharp, serrated silken 

 threads.* These brilliant crowns are not mere orna- 

 ments, but, to speak more correctly, are the two sides 

 of a solid door or rather a true portcullis, which her- 

 metically closes the entrance of the habitation, when, 

 at the least alarm of danger, the Annelid darts with 

 the rapidity of lightning within its house of sand. 

 From the edges of the cephalic opening, issue about 

 fifty or sixty light violet-coloured slender filaments, 

 which are incessantly moving about like numerous 

 minute serpents. These are so many arms which can 

 be lengthened or shortened at will, and which seizing 

 the prey as it passes, bring it into the hollow funnel- 

 shaped mouth at the base of the depression. It is by 

 means of these arms that one by one the grains of 

 quartz or hard limestone are collected, and put into 

 their proper places, to serve in the composition of the 

 tubes, the different parts being solidly cemented 

 together by a sort of mortar-like mucosity, which 

 is furnished by the animal itself. On the sides of its 



* These Setae replace the calcareous or horny operculura, which 

 in the ordinary Tubicula, similarly serves to close the orifice of the 

 tube* 



