176 



ZOOLOGY 



'prob 



rean. 

 nat. size. 

 Leunis. 



>h'-,ct 



In conclusion brief mention must be made of certain worm- 

 like animals still more distantly related to the earthworm. 

 The first of these is marine, but has the same slow-moving, 

 burrowing hal^its as the earthworm. These animals have 

 become more modified in connection with their burrowing 

 habits than the earthworm, for thej' have lost not only their 

 appendages, but in the adult stage even the 

 segmentation of the body. This is the class 

 Gephyrea.^ 



This group con- 

 tains se^'eral rather 

 rare animals, some of 

 Fig. 166. — Phasco- which are edible, and 



„ , ^, are held in esteem by 

 < )!ic-foiirth -^ 



From the Chinese. One of 

 the commonest is 

 Phascolosoma,^ which is a tougli but 

 smooth-skinned, cigar-shaped worm, 

 which one can dig up on our sandy sea- 

 beaches (Fig. 166). One end is pointed; 

 from the other a great proljoscis ending 

 in tentacles surrounding a mouth can ha 

 extruded. Another species found on our 

 beaches after a storm, something like a 

 small cucumber in shape and size, has a 

 row of bristles at each end, indicat- 

 ing its relationship with the bristle- 

 bearing worms. This striking species, 



' (FPMjra, bridge ; lipcause they were once 

 con.sidcred to bridge the gap between holothu- 



posrsct 



rians and worms. 

 ^ phaskoluv, sue ; 



soma, body. 



Fig. 167. — Echiurus. About 

 one-half nat. size. proJi, 

 proboscis ; ant. set, anterior 

 seta? ; post, set, posterior 

 set:e. .Vfter Greef, from 

 Parker and Haswell's Text- 

 book. 



