176 



ON ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, AND THE 



called termes, pipe-worm, or shelly ship-worm, and belongs to the next order. 

 In both forms it is peculiarly destructive to shipping- ; boring its way into the 

 stoutest oak planks, with great rapidity and facility ; and chiefly forming a 

 necessity for their being copper-bottomed. The animal is, in its habits, gre- 

 garious ; and hence, in attacking a vessel, it advances in a multitudinous body, 

 ever)'- individual punctiliously adhering to its own cell, which is separated from 

 the adjoining by a partition not thicker than a piece of writing-paper. In a 

 preceding lecture, however, I had occasion to observe, when glancing at the 

 shelly ship-worm, or teredo navalis, that, by its attacking the stagnant trunks 

 of trees and other vegetable materials, that in many parts of the world are 

 washed or thrown down by torrents and tornadoes from the mountains, and 

 block up the mouths of creeks and rivers, and thus powerfully contributing 

 to the dissolution of dead vegetable matter, it produces far more benefit than 

 evil ; the benefit being universal, but the evil partial and limited. In 1731 and 

 1732 they appeared in great numbers on the banks of Zealand, and consider- 

 ably alarmed the Dutch, lest the piles by which these banks are supported 

 should have been suddenly destroyed. They never, however, staid long 

 enough to commit mischief, the climate, perhaps, being too cold for them. 



Another genus worthy of notice under this order is the actinia, which includes 

 those species of naked £ea-worms which are vulgarly called sea-daisy, 

 actinia jBgZ/i5 ; sea-carnation, a. Dianthus ; sea-anemony, a. Anemonoides ; and 

 sea-marigold, a. Calendula ; from their resemblance to the stems and flowers 

 of these plants. The first three are found on the warmer rocky coasts of 

 our own country, as those of Sussex ; and the last on the shores of Bar- 

 badoes. The sea-carnation is sometimes thrown upon our flat coasts, and 

 left evacuated of its water by the- return of the tide ; in which case it has the 

 appearance of a slender, long-stalked, yellow fig. 



Most of us are acquainted with some species of the sepia or cuttle-fish, 

 which is another genus of the order before us. The common cuttle-fish, 

 sepia Gfficinalis^ is an inhabitant of the ocean, and is preyed upon by the whale 

 and plaise tribes ; its arms are also frequently eaten off by the conger-eel, 

 but are reproducible. The bony scale on the back is that alone which is 

 usually sold in the shops, under the name of cuttle-fish, and is employed in 

 making pounce. These animals have the singular power, when pursued by 

 an enemy, of squirting out a black fluid or natural ink, which darkens the 

 waters all around, and thus enables it to escape. This natural ink forms an 

 ingredient in the composition of our Indian inks. The worm or fish was 

 formerly eaten by the ancients, and is still occasionally used as food by the 

 Italians. In hot climates, some of the species grow to a prodigious size, and 

 are armed with a dreadful apparatus of holders, furnished with suckers, by 

 which, like the elephant with its proboscis, they can rigidly fasten upon and 

 convey their prey to the mouth. In the eight-armed cuttle-fish, sepia ocio- 

 podia, which inhabits the Indian seas, the arms or holders are said to be not 

 less than nine fathoms in length. In consequence of which the Indians never 

 venture to sea without hatchets in their boats to cut off" these monstrous arms, 

 should the animal attempt to fasten upon them, and drag them under water. 

 This genus, with that of the argonauta and nautilus, constitute the order 

 CEPHALOPODA of Cuvlcr, which belongs to his class named molluscs. 



The medusa is another genus entitled to attention, as aifording various spe- 

 cies that shine with great splendour in the water. The worms of this kind 

 are vulgarly denominated sea-nettles, and consist of a tender gelatinous mass, 

 of various figures, furnished with arms or tentacular processes, issuing from 

 the under surface. The larger species, when touched, produce in the hand 

 a slight tingling and redness, and hence, indeed, the name of sea-nettles, by 

 which the)^ are commonly distinguished. A few of the species are found on 

 our own coasts ; but by far the greater number are exotics. 



The asterias, sea-star, or star-fish, is another genus of molluscous worms, 

 and, in some of its species, is known to all of us. The most curious spe- 

 cies of this genus is the asterias Capw^ AfecZMstE, or basket-fish ; which inhabits 

 most seas, and consists of five central rays, each of which divides into two 



