140 



LIFE, IN ITS INTERMEDIATE FORMS. 



blade, like those on the edge of our reaping-hooks. These 

 are chiefly the weapons of the lower bundle ; those of the 



Polynoe — [with its lances magnified.) 



upper are still more imposing. The outmost are short, 

 curved clubs, armed with a row of shark's teeth to make 

 them more fatal ; these surround a cluster of spears, the 

 long heads of which are furnished with a double row of 

 the same appendages ; and lengthened scimitars, the 

 curved edges of which are cut into teeth like a saw. To 

 add to the effect, imagine that all these weapons are 

 forged out of the clearest glass instead of steel ; that the 

 larger bundles may contain about fifty, and the smaller 

 half as many, each ; that there are four bundles on every 

 segment, and that the body is composed of twenty-five 

 such segments ; and you will have a tolerable idea of the 

 garniture and armature of this little worm, that grubs 

 about in the mud at low-water mark. 



Some of the Worms, both of the sea, and of fresh- 

 waters, manifest a singular power of self-multiplication. 

 In one or two species of Syllis, and in some of the genus 



