352 INVERTEBRATA OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



We have three or four species, some of them quite beautiful, 

 but none of them having a structure sufficiently tenacious to ren- 

 der them useful. Such are 



Spo'ngiA OCULa'tA, Montagu ; Wernerian Trans., ii. 78, pi. G, f. 2. 

 Ellis ; CoralL, tab. 32, f. F, f. 



Spo'nGIA RAMo'sa, Montagu; Wern. Trans., i'l. 84, p\. 8. 

 Spo'nGIA ARBORe'sCENS, Lam. S. rubens, Pallas. 



Of parasitic icorms and infusory animals, great numbers have 

 been observed. There is not a beast, bird, reptile, or fish, which 

 has not one or more species of worm infesting the intestines or 

 other organs of the body. The little animalcula called infusory 

 animals, may always be found in water, whether fresh or salt ; but 

 more especially in warm weather, when the waters of the ditches 

 and stagnant pools become almost opake with their countless 

 multitudes. They will amuse and astonish any one who will sub- 

 ject a drop of such water to the microscope ; but any special 

 enumeration or description of them here would be useless. 



The preceding list of Crustacea, Annelida, and Radiata has 

 been prepared almost without assistance, and while almost entirely 

 confined within the limits of the city. Occasional visits to the 

 wharves, timber-docks, and market have been the principal re- 

 sources for specimens. It serves to show that we have about us 

 an abundance of animals whose structure and habits have received 

 their share of attention in other countries, but which have hitherto 

 found few devotees in this country. So few gleanings have been 

 made in this field, that no other promises a more abundant return 

 for labor. The whole American coast is unexplored. Nearly 

 every spadeful! of the sand of the beach, every stone washed by 

 the tide, and every sea-weed will furnish some object which is 

 curious, and often new. If some of the young naturalists whom 

 we see multiplying around us, especially any who reside on the 

 sea-shore, or are in the habit of resorting to it for health or pleas- 

 ure, should turn their attention to the study of these departments, 

 they would find themselves richly rewarded. 



