486 Dr. F. A. Bather — Tube-building Fossil Annelides. 



further details for a species of Terebella (Journ. R. Micr. Soc., 1890, 

 pp. 685-9, pi. xiv). In January, 1894, Professor W. C. M'lntosh 

 published a lecture " On certain Homes or Tubes formed by Annelids " 

 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. vi, vol. xiii, pp. 1-18), summarizing inter 

 alia the facts in his Challenger Report on the Annelida Polychseta (1885). 



The evidence for selective faculty or habit, when presented by 

 rare species known from only one or two localities, is of course 

 unconvincing; but there are some fairly clear instances among species 

 that are better known. Thus Euthelepus setubalensis seems to select 

 hexactinellid sponge-spicules from the foraminiferal mud in which it 

 lives (M'lntosh, Challenger Report, p. 466), and according to Dalyell 

 (1853, p. 176), " The animals [of Sabella alveolar id] testify a decided 

 preference on choosing the materials of their habitations. While 

 always preferring sand and comminuted shell, pounded glass is 

 sparingly and reluctantly employed, and unless for a few fragments, 

 it is soon entirely rejected." 



On the other hand, one and the same species is known to make its 

 tube of different material according to circumstances. " Thus in 

 Northia [sic] eonehglega," says Professor M'lntosh (1894, p. 6), 

 "the tube proper is, in the Zetlandic examples . . . strengthened 

 externally by entire shell-valves, large fragments of the latter, 

 pieces of sea-urchins and heart-urchins, or, in those procured by the 

 Knight Errant in 608 fathoms in the Atlantic, of coarse gravel." 

 Again, Professor M'lntosh (1894, p. 13) figures two similarly-shaped 

 tubes of Amphictene auricula, one from shallow water, formed of sand- 

 grains irregularly disposed, the other from deep-sea mud, built of 

 sponge-spicules in regular layers. An example that has some bearing 

 on the present case is Nothria macrolranchiata, M'lntosh (1885, 

 Challenger Report, p. 322 ; and 1894, p. 6), dredged in green mud at 

 345 fathoms south of Yedo [Tokyo], Japan. This "utilized the long 

 linear leaves of the pines swept down by the rivers, besides leaf- 

 stalks and leaves, straws, stones, and fragments of echinoderms, to 

 strengthen its tube of greyish mud : '. In the specimens described 

 and figured the pine-needles were arranged longitudinally to serve as 

 a sort of scaffold, only one or two being used. 



Notwithstanding the curious mixture of materials occasionally 

 observed, one does get the impression that the tubes are to some 

 extent characteristic of the various species. The character, however, 

 seems to reside as much in the size of the fragments as in their 

 material. There are also differences in the relative amount of 

 secretion contributed by the worm itself, and in the arrangement of 

 the foreign particles, as well as obvious differences in the actual size 

 of the tube. 



Reverting to the Cretaceous tubes, we note that the materials, 

 though diverse, are not mixed. There is little difference in general 

 appearance between a tube formed of fish-debris and one of fir-leaves, 

 but no examples contain a mixtui'e of the two. A tube may, as 

 Davies observed, include scales of more than one species of fish, but 

 it includes nothing except fish-debris. Another tube consists of 

 leaves, bits of bark, and so forth, but comprises nothing that is not 

 vegetable. So, again, specimen A 1583 contains ossicles of both 



