THE LEAF-WORMS. 247 



posterior extremity, and its tendency to irregular con- 

 striction, combine with the absence of suckers, and 

 the deterioration of the oral tentacles to mark its affi- 

 nity with the Sipunctdidae., in which family I think it 

 should be placed. I know the characters of the 

 genus Chirodota of Eschscholtz, only fi'om their cita- 

 tion in Professor Forbes' "Star-fishes," but cannot help 

 thinking with Montagu that our Torquay specimens 

 come very close to Miiller's Holothuria mhxrens, 

 judging from the figure and Latin diagnosis of the 

 latter, for unfortunately I cannot read the Danish 

 language. The only difference I notice is in the form 

 of the tentacles, Miiller's species having each sixteen 

 terminal digitations, while ours has but four. 



THE PHYLLODOCE. 



Many of the Marine Worms, as I have before said, 

 are very elegant creatures, and not a few present us 

 with great variety and brilliance of colours. Pre- 

 eminent among them are the Leaf-worms, according 

 to the verdict of most who have studied this Class of 

 beings, from Fabricius downward, who styled them 

 " Virgines pulcherrimiE inter Nereides." In the little 

 shallow hollows that are to be found on the surface 

 of the rocks covered at high tide, green with the 

 puckered leaves of the lettuce-like Ulva, and affording 

 a happy home to multitudes of Purples, Periwinks, 

 Tops aad Mussels, we may often see, gliding in and 

 out, the worms of this genus, which the indefatigable 

 Savigny named after the sea-nymph Phyllodoce ; — 



" Phyllodoceque 



Ceesariem effusae nitidam per Candida coUa." 



Virgil. 



