Annelides — Radio ta. 8417 



exhibited the same marked actions, individual ones bending quite back and returning 

 with some quickness ; in the evening only these latter moved, the gills being quiescent. 

 On the 17th the gills were more curled, and most of them pale; they showed scarcely 

 any movement, but the pectinations, especially of those gills which retained iheir 

 colour, moved now and then as before. . The small piece of body in connection with 

 the gills had become shapeless and flocculent, and part of it had fallen away. I found 

 the gills on the 18th more curled up and somewhat entangled or confused-looking, all 

 but one or two bleached ; only after very patient watching (as usual with a pocket 

 lens) fancied I detected a trifling movement among some of the pectinations, but it 

 was not repeated and the observation was uncertain. 19th. Failed to observe any 

 motion of the pectinations, and on slightly shaking the boitle to excite movement if 

 any life remained the two groups of gills fell quite apart, from the advance of decom- 

 position in the basal portion. It is not perhaps certain whether the division of the 

 annelid's body was spontaneous, or whether it should be charged on the fish which 

 shared its captivity, but as neither portion was devoured I should be inclined to think 

 the injury was self-inflicted, as it is an acknowledged habit of some of its tribe. I do 

 not know if the power of reproducing lost portions is as strong in Sabella as it is in 

 some of the Annelida, but the great tenacity of life indicated in surviving such severe 

 injury for more than a week, and the vigour which the movements of this specimen 

 showed for some days, impressed me with the notion that had it been placed in more 

 favourable circumstances, as in the pure water of the ocean, it might possibly have 

 restored the missing portions of its frame, and, secreting a new tube, made a fresh start 

 in life with literally an old head upon young shoulders. Annelids, however, seem to 

 differ much in their reproductive powers ; in some species separation of the body into 

 two portions and the production of a second set of organs for the unprovided moiety 

 appears to be the appointed means of increasing the species. Though this action has 

 been denied it has been reasserted by Mr. Gosse from eye-witness ; the subjects of his 

 observations, however, Nais and Syllis, are neither of them tube-worms, and it seems 

 a new head is grown before self-division occurs. Dr. T. Williams, as quoted by Dr. 

 Carpenter, states in reference to Nais that the separated portions henceforth take no 

 food and seem merely to exist in order to develope their eggs. Mr. Wood observes 

 that the common notion of an earthworm cut in two becoming two complete worms 

 is erroneous, and asserts that the injury unless inflicted near the tail end is fatal, the 

 head portion surviving longer than the other. Mortification, he says, spreads from 

 the wound, ring after ring withering and dropping off, each half in the same manner 

 dying by degrees, but he does not state for what period life continues. The case of 

 the Sabella was somewhat similar: the posterior portion, it seemed, soon died ; in the 

 anterior mortification commenced at the wound, vitality retreated forward and found 

 a last refuge in the breathing organs, where it made a considerable stand. As these 

 singular creatures wear their lungs on the top of their head it was the most anterior 

 part of the frame in which the vital spark at length died out. — George Guyon ; Ventnor, 

 Isle of Wight, November 24, 1862. 



Notes on Sea Anemones, Observations on the Tank, §-c. — The following incident of 

 a battle between two anemones of the Sagartia family fully bears out the traditional 

 reputation of these ancient warriors. It also seems to indicate the possession by these 

 humble yet beautiful creatures of an instinct not often surpassed in animals of higher 

 organization. I received a consignment of anemones from Tenby a few weeks ago, 

 and among them were two or three of the beautiful Sagartia miniata, var. venustoides. 

 VOL. XXI. P 



