ANNELIDA. 



221 



Miiller, u I found a mother to which F/ s- 95 - 



three fetuses of different ages ap- 

 peared in one length. The mother 

 had thirty pedate segments ; the 

 youngest daughter, or that nearest 

 the mother, had eleven, but the head 

 was not yet developed. The most 

 remote had seventeen rings, with both 

 head and eyes, and, moreover, the 

 tail of the mother ; the middle one 

 had seventeen segments, and a head. 

 The two posterior were broken off 

 from the mother by pressure : in the 

 last, or oldest, was found a black sub- 

 stance filled with white spots ; and the 

 white spots, when squeezed from the 

 body, were oval, each marked with a 

 pellucid speck. Were they eggs ? If 

 so, how were they formed in a young 

 one still adhering to the body of its 

 parent ? In the middle one were si- 

 milar spots, but smaller. Were they 

 younger eggs ?" 



Some curious speculations have been entertained by continental 

 writers relative to this mode of propagation. The tail of the ori- 

 ginal Nereis is still the tail of its offspring, and, however often the 

 body may divide, still the same tail remains attached to the hin- 

 der portion, so that this part of the animal may be said to enjoy 

 a kind of immunity from death. 



(265.) Tubicola. Our knowledge of the last, or tubicolous di- 

 vision of the Annelidans, is very limited ; it may, indeed, be said to 

 be confined to an acquaintance with their external configuration, for 

 the few unconnected accounts which are given by authors relative 

 to their internal anatomy are so obviously based upon pure sup- 

 position, that, perhaps, the zootomist who should enjoy favourable 

 opportunities of inspecting the larger species in a fresh state, could 

 hardly make a more valuable contribution to our science than by 

 giving an account of the organization of these interesting animals. 

 We have already described the different kinds of tubes in which these 

 Annelidans live ( 233), and given a representation (Jig. 78) of 

 the calcareous tube secreted by the Serpula contortuplicata : the 



