140 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



has been so exceedingly lavish regarding the internal structure, she 

 has been far more so in respect to external appearance, for nothing 

 can be more brilliant or beautiful than the colouring of many of the 

 species of the despised class known as the vermes. One naturalist 

 finds the tints most exquisite, surpassing even the flowers of the 

 Tropics. Another states they combine the hues of the humming 

 bird with the metallic lustre of the South American beetles, while a 

 third emphatically protests against the ignorance which prevails 

 respecting his pre-eminently beautiful Nereis, Euphrosyne, Eunice, 

 Alcyopa, names selected from Grecian Mythology, expressive of the 

 most intense admiration of the little-known, neglected, but truly 

 beautiful creatures. 



The Tubicolce, or solitary annelids, possess the means of secre- 

 ting mineral matter, carbonate of lime, from the water, to form the 

 tube or shelly covering for their protection. This tube was sufficiently 

 hard to permit of fossilization. Our modern Serpula is a familiar 

 example. You may notice it frequently attached to oysters and 

 other shells ; this worm is furnished with a beautiful crown of feath- 

 ery tentaculse, doubtlessly for the purpose of attracting and seizing 

 its passing prey. It is said they are used for the purpose of creating 

 a current and drawing microscopical organisms within its influence. 

 Nature may have had another object also in view when she embel- 

 lished the feathery crown with such brilliant colouring and varied 

 tints as it possesses. 



I am enabled to submit for your inspection a well preserved 

 specimen of a cornulites, a member of the family from the glaciated 

 Niagara chert of Hamilton. Although the tubicolse are solitary, strictly 

 speaking, entire colonies are often found attached to shells in our 

 day, and in precisely the same way we find them grouped on the 

 valves of the Cambro-silurian brachiopods. In many instances the 

 worms appear to display a tendency to form irregular circles, as if 

 they wished to make the most of the limited space at their disposal. 

 Dr. James Hall, the Director-General of the New York State 

 Geological Survey, contends that the coiled spirorbis and the ortonia 

 of the late Professor Nicholson merely represent a cornulites 

 in the earlier stages ofcits growth. The slabs figured in illustration 

 strongly corroborate his views. 



Nemertes Gigas. — Perhaps the most extraordinary of the vagrant 

 annelids is the great Nemertes. There are two species, one violet col- 



