WORMS 301 



those organs; the bristles which compose it are awl- 

 shaped, without teeth, slightly curved^ and directed in- 

 ward and backward; their color is a clear brown, with 

 golden reflections. The second bundle is inserted more 

 externally, on a tuberculous foot-stalk, and points hori- 

 zontally backward and outward. The bristles which enter 

 into its composition are very long, very strong, and ter- 

 minated by a lance-shaped point, of which the edges are 

 garnished with teeth curved backward toward the base. 

 These are veritable barbed arrows, having the extremities 

 sometimes exposed, but often concealed in a sheath which 

 is formed of two horny pieces, capable of opening and of 

 closing again upon them. 



"The use of these two valves it is not difficult to detect. 

 They protect the points of the arrow, and permit the 

 Aphrodite to receive them again into its body unharmed; 

 whereas, without this precaution, the tissues which they 

 traverse would be cut and mangled. But when these 

 weapons are deeply plunged into a foreign body, as into 

 the soft flesh of those animals which annoy the Worm, 

 since the sheath does not penetrate with them but folds 

 back, it follows that their teeth are inserted without any 

 protection, and that on account of their backward direc- 

 tion they can be withdrawn only with great difficulty ; thus, 

 in most cases, the dart becomes broken; but the animal is 

 furnished with so great a number, that these losses are 

 scarcely felt, and there remain to it amply sufficient for its 

 defence in all contingencies." ' 



You will have noticed that the learned French zo- 

 ologists seriously countenance the notion that these ex- 

 quisitely elaborated organs are weapons of offence. But 



1 "Litt. de la France," ii. 71. 



