2520 Marine Zoology. 



alarming a host of them. Multitudes may be seen rolling- in a languid state, towards 

 the sea, in the rippling course of a small rivulet which spreads over a bed of stones on 

 the beach before joining the ocean. There they furnish a rich repast for the heron, 

 curlew, godwit, redshank, and other Tringse. My attention was drawn to the spot by 

 observing daily large flocks of these coast birds feeding ; and I was surprised, on ex- 

 amination, to find that a bushel of worms could have been gathered in a short time. 

 It would appear, from this circumstance, that these singular creatures — during the 

 flowing of the tide — must travel from their usual site and settle under the stones at 

 the mouth of the stream, whence they are ejected when the tide recedes by the rush 

 of fresh water, which destroys numbers before they reach the sea. In its natural 

 abode the Nereis is active, and eludes capture — as well as more perfect animals — by 

 burying itself in the sand or slipping amongst the loose pebbles. There are appa- 

 rently two kinds : one grows to some thickness, equalling in bulk many of the soft- 

 bodied annelides, as the sand-worm (Arenicola piscatorum) ; the other, which is 

 probably a variety, is more slender, often not half the breadth, although of the same 

 length. 



But the animal now spoken of is but one of a hundred which inhabit the dark 

 blue waters : still more interesting members of the tribe are found where no human 

 hand can upset their domicile, and no rivulet wash them from their lurking-place. 

 The lines of the fisherman and the dredge of the naturalist are the only means of re- 

 vealing the diversity of their forms, the nature of their habitat, and the extent of their 

 distribution. The tubicolar species abound amongst old and worn shells long since 

 relieved of their owner ; and in almost all of the saucer-shaped valves their tortuous 

 cells are glued to each other, and bound with hair-like zoophytes, broken shells and 

 coarse sand. Flexible sheaths are not less common : they are formed by a large and 

 beautiful species, having a bunch of thread-like tentacles surrounding its mouth, and 

 short cirri along its sides. As formerly noticed, this kind of tube is invariably covered 

 with a crust of Alcyonium digitatum, which, in its turn, is sometimes surmounted by 

 the tree zoophyte (Eudendriwn rameum). The annelide in question is not entirely 

 restricted to this mode of house building ; it also forms for itself a covering on the 

 interior surface of a bivalve shell, usually coiled round the edge ; and in many cases 

 I have observed its tube wound about the stalks or mattings of dead zoophytes. 

 When so discovered, however, it partakes of the India-rubber nature, and has more 

 or less of that leathery appearance which is so conspicuous in the straight and black- 

 coloured sheaths. 



The fishermen suppose, and certainly their daily observations almost justify a be- 

 lief, that most of marine animals — especially in the lower scale of beings — live on 

 \ fry friendly terms. They lift a handful of refuse from their baskets, and tell their 

 visitors to witness the congregation of worms in an old shell, — how they live in har- 

 mony, although their mansions of fragments are piled over one another and run 

 across in every shape. The ponderous horse-mussel (Modiola) is adduced as another 

 example, of which I have myself been a witness, carrying on its back two large polypi 

 without resisting the burden, although it will snap asunder the fishing-lines after 

 ting a baited hook ; and even the smaller crabs do not escape notice as rendering 

 important service to some corallines and sponges which grow and flourish on their 

 catapace. Various univalves perform the function of a carrier to many of our grace- 

 ful species: on two or three occasions I have found Antennularia antennina affixed 

 to live shells of Buccinum undatum, each whorl being adorned with a feathery stalk. 



