356 THE LIVING ANIMALS. OF THE WORLD 
f most brilliant prismatic 
tints, 
The TUBE-DWELLING 
WORMS are note-worthy for 
the elegant and often beau- 
tifully coloured flower-like 
gill-tuft with which the head 
is crowned. Its separate 
filaments are clothed with 
vibrating hairs, which create 
currents bringing food-par- 
ticlestothe mouth Inthose 
forms which build up a hard 
calcareous dwelling-tube, one 
of the gill-filaments is usually 
so modified as to constitute 
a stopper-like organ, where- 
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F Z 8.) (Milford on-Sea : ss x 
SEA-WORMS. OR NEREIDS with the animal,on retreating 
into its domicile, can effectu- 
ally bar out the ingress of in- 
truders. Insome members of the group the gill-tufts are elegantly branched and supplemented 
by long, simple, thread-like filaments, that are thrust out to long distances in every direction 
both for food and the materials required for the further lengthening and enlargement of the tube 
The LEECHES differ essentially from the Bristle-worms in the absence of bristles or 
supplementary appendages, in the presence of an adhesive sucking-disk at the posterior and 
sometimes also the anterior extremity, and on their well-known blood-sucking propensities. 
While the MEDICINAL and so-called HORSE-LEECHES inhabit fresh water, some, more espe- 
cially in tropical countries, infest the moist jungles and scrubs in vast numbers, and are among 
the most actively aggressive pests with which the traveler has to contend. A few leeches also 
inhabit the sea, preying upon the skate and other fishes. The bodies of these marine species 
are cylindrical, with a sucker at each extremity, and roughly corrugated or warted. 
The FLAT-WORMS embrace a large number of intestinal and other parasitic species, includ- 
ing TAPE-WORMS, THREAD- 
WORMS, LIVER-FLUKES, and | 
others. Among the free-living 
Their 7nnumerable “false feet” impart to them a centipede-like aspect 
non-parasitic members of this 
group, the so-called INDIA- 
RUBBER-WORM is remarkable 
forthe extraordinaryelasticity 
of its tissues. Black in hue, 
it lives among rocks and sea- 
weeds, and preys upon small 
fishes and other organisins, 
These being seized by the | 
suctorial mouth are unable to 
effect their escape, the worm’s | 
body being capable of stretch- | 
ing out to a length of 20 feet 
or more, and ‘‘ playing” the 
captured victim like a living isd by Wi salle Riek Hee GE 
elastic fishing-line until its SEAEMICE le al 
struggles are exhausted. Hoos Un LE GRR PRED EEE Oe ee 
tn the sand 
