248 EVOLUTION OF 



These worms bear a general resemblance to the 

 Centipedes of the land, and some may behold them 

 with aversion on that account; but, prejudice being 

 laid aside, we must confess that their forms are elegant, 

 their motions lithe, easy and full of grace, and their 

 general appearance attractive. They are distinguished 

 by their long, slender, and flattened bodies, composed 

 of very numerous segments, sometimes amounting to 

 several hundred (as in the case of Phyllodoce lami- 

 nosa, Sav. found on the French side of the Channel, 

 which reaches to two feet in length, and is divided 

 into more than 500 segments*); but they may be more 

 readily recognised by the series of overlapping leaf- 

 lets which run along each side, one pair to each 

 segment. 



It is a very curious spectacle to see these Worms 

 turn the stomach inside out. In common with most 

 other genera of this Class, the head is minute, and 

 what seems to be the mouth, is but the orifice from 

 which the proboscis is protruded. In the genus 

 Phyllodoce, this organ is a great muscular sac, some- 

 times as much as one-fourth of the whole length of the 

 body. The beholder is astonished to see a chasm in 

 the under side of the head begin to yawn, and the 

 interior rapidly protrude, turning inside-out as it 

 comes forth, like a living stocking, until it assumes 

 the form of an enormous pear-shaped bag, the surface 

 of which is beset with a multitude of secreting warts 

 or glands, like those which stud the tongue in higher 

 animals. In many genera the extremity of this 



• Aud. et M. Edw. ; Litt. de la Fr. ii. 223. 



