2184 Birds, fyc. 



parts of the south coast of Devonshire, where it is by some of the fishermen known 

 by the very applicable name given to it in the ' History of Cornwall.' * It is indeed 

 of so prodigious a length that it is impossible to fix any bounds ; gome of the fisher- 

 men say thirty yards, — but perhaps as many feet is the utmost : those specimens which 

 have come under our inspection did not appear to exceed twenty feet, and more com- 

 monly from eight to fourteen or fifteen. 



" The largest are taken by dredging in old bivalve shells, but are sometimes found 

 under stones at low water, always coiled or contorted in the most complicated manner : 

 those which we have kept in sea water never attempted to extend themselves, but con- 

 fined their motion wholly to contortion." 



A specimen of this worm having been taken by Mr. Davies, f was kept by him 

 alive for a fortnight in a dish of sea water. " It partook " (says this gentleman) " in 

 a great measure of the nature of the leech, and seemed in some degree amphibious, as 

 it frequently in part left the water, and to the length of a foot or two, or more, ex- 

 tended itself along the edge of the dish, and the table on which the dish was placed. 



" In the night I always found it coiled in a more lax and diffuse manner, covering 

 nearly the whole dish ; but on the approach of a candle it seemed affected, and in- 

 clined to contract itself; so that, although I could not see that it had eyes, I evidently 

 discerned that it was very sensible of light. It frequently by morning assumed some- 

 what of a spiral or screw-like form ; and on one morning in particular, I was highly 

 gratified in finding it almost perfectly and closely spiral from end to end. I was 

 forcibly struck with this appearance, as it seemed to suggest to me the solution of a 

 difficulty which perplexed me much, concerning the manner how such a wonderfully 

 soft, delicate, and seemingly unmanageable length of body, could possibly move itself 

 from one place to another. But from the moment when I observed this, I became 

 perfectly at ease with regard to that particular, being convinced that this must be the 

 state which the creature assumes when disposed to change its station ; not only as thus 

 it is contracted with regard to length into the most compact size which its make is 

 susceptible of, but likewise that when so modified every spire or volution, by a distinct 

 impulse exerted in an appropriate manner, will assist in the act of progression and of 

 shifting forward the whole of its amazing length at nearly the same instant. 



" Having thus attended to this remarkable animal for a fortnight, giving it daily 

 a fresh supply of sea water, I put it into a bottle, which by-the-bye, though the bottle 

 was wide-mouthed, I effected with no little trouble, owing to its facility of extending 

 and contracting itself, and likewise its being so slippery from the quantity of mucus 

 with which it abounds. When, however, this was done, I poured on it some spirits ; it was 

 convulsed and greatly contracted with regard to length, and consequently much enlarged 

 in thickness, though neither nearly to that degree which I had often observed when 

 it was alive ; and in an instant, to my great surprise, it projected, from the emarginate 

 part of the front, a proboscis which was eight inches in length. It is very strange that 

 during the space of time above stated, and the various treatment which the creature 

 had experienced, as well as the different attitudes and states I had seen it in, it never 

 in the least exhibited this part of itself till in its dying convulsion." 



This specimen was found by Mr. Davies to measure after death twenty-two feet 



* Sea long worm. Borlase's ' History of Cornwall.' 

 | ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' ii. 292. 



