15 
TAB. VIII. 
L I N E U S longissimus. 
Black Line-Worm. 
Class 5. Vermes. Order 1 . Intestina. 
Gen. Char. Animal naked, simple, not attached. 
Body linear, smooth, depressed. Mouth beneath 
longitudinal. 
Syn. Lineus longissimus. T. W. Simmons’s MSS. 
Sea Longworm. Borlase’s Cornwall, pi. 26. f. 13. 
The first intelligence I had of this animal was from 
Colonel Montague, who informed me also of their great 
length, but found it difficult, from their rotting, to preserve 
them to send me. 
It seems to have been long and well known to the fisher- 
men of the coast; but after they have told one that it is 
many fathoms in length, and that though they are continually 
bawling them in as they would a rope, they never find the 
extremity, they are then sufficiently satisfied that one knows 
enough of the matter ; and persuasion or money will scarcely 
procure specimens from them. 
“Length many feet. Breadth one-third of an inch. Colour 
towards the head black ; towards the opposite extremity it 
becomes gradually of a light brown with paler longitudinal 
streaks. The extremity nearest the mouth is slightly tapering, 
emarginate, and marked with a transverse semicircular line. 
