WORMS 
357 
other description of vegetable debris. They also swallow and pass through their systems large 
quantities of earth, absorbing from it its organic constituents, and depositing the indigestible 
residuum therefrom in the form of “ earth-casts.” The useful function thus performed by 
worms in bringing up earth from considerable depths and redepositing it upon the surface of 
the ground has been fully demonstrated in one of Mr. Darwin’s works. There are some twenty 
species of British earth-worms, none of which, however, attain to the proportions of certain 
kinds indigenous to Australia and South Africa. Some of these giant species are as much as 
3 or 4 feet long when unextended, and will on the stretch measure twice such lengths. Their 
thickness, which is proportionate, may vary from that of a man’s finger to that of an ordinary 
sausage. 
The most numerically abundant and structurally varied representatives of the bristle- 
bearing worms are inhabitants of the sea, and are divisible into two easily recognised 
natural groups. In one of 
these the animals resemble 
earth-worms in their ability 
to move about freely from 
place to place. In the other 
group they secrete and per- 
manently reside within a tu- 
bular edifice, which may be 
calcareous and of shell-like 
hardness, or composed of par- 
ticles of sand, mud, or other 
substances. The free-roving 
group, which embraces by far 
the larger number, includes 
such forms as the Lug-worm, 
or Lob-worm (held in high 
repute for fishing-baits), and 
a host of other allied species. 
In all of these the develop- 
ment of bristles and other 
appendages is more pro- 
ac'jnced than in the Earth- 
worms. In another group, 
known as the Nereids, the 
elongate worm-like body is 
more or less flattened in shape ; 
unjointed leg-like appendages, 
supplemented by bristles, are 
developed from the majority of the segments, and the animal presents a somewhat centipede- 
like aspect. This likeness is further enhanced by the presence of antennse-like organs at the 
anterior extremity, while the mouth is armed internally with a pair of sharp-pointed, horny 
jaws. In many of the nereids the lateral organs are flattened out and paddle-like, constituting 
effective swimming-structures. Some of the larger species attain a length of several feet, and 
are especially noteworthy for the brilliantly iridescent tinting of their skins. The palm of beauty 
with respect to its brilliant colouring must undoubtedly, however, be awarded to the so-called 
Sea-mouse, frequently cast up by storms on the British coast. In this creature the body is 
comparatively short and thick, 3 or 4 inches long by ij- to 2 inches wide. The centre 
of the back is covered in by a felt-like mass of fine interlacing hairs of a brownish hue. 
underneath which are broad, flat scales which protect the breathing-apparatus. The sides arc, 
however, thickly clothed with long, slender hairs and bristles, each of which reflects the 
Fhcit hy Saville-Kent^ 
TUBE-WORMS 
Some 'With their Jicwer-like gill-tufts expanded 
[ Milford~on~Sea 
