THE TEREBELLA . 
237 
some force, as anyone knows who has pulled a Caddis larva 
out of its house. But when the case is fixed, the abdominal 
claspers of the larva are attached to a pair of long foot-stalks, 
so that the creature can extend its body to some distance from 
the entrance of the tube. 
We now come to some animals that build a submarine edifice, 
somewhat similar in principle to those of the subaquatic Caddis. 
The first is the well-known Terebella of our coasts, some- 
times known by the name of Shell-binder. Sandy shoals are 
the best spots for the Terebella, and in many places there is 
scarcely a square yard of sand without its inhabitants. Like 
the serpula, the Terebella constructs tubes, but, unlike that 
animal, it makes the tubes of a soft and flexible texture, 
although the materials which it employs are harder than those 
which are used by the serpula. The Terebella has the art of 
making its submarine tubes of sand, which it agglutinates 
together with such wonderful power, that if Michael Scott’s 
impish familiar had only been acquainted with natural history, 
he might soon have learned the art of making ropes of seasand, 
and have turned the tables on his master. 
Should any of my readers be desirous of finding the habitation 
of a Terebella, he may easily do so by repairing to the nearest 
sandy shore, and looking under every large stone or piece of 
rock. There he will probably find some loose tufts of sandy 
threads, which are fixed to the mouth of a flexible tube, made 
of the same materials. This tube is the habitation of the 
Terebella, and by means of a crowbar and a chisel, the animal 
may generally be procured, together with its home. There are, 
however, plenty of deserted tubes, and I have often been sadly 
disappointed by finding that, after a long and laborious digging, 
nothing but the empty tube was to be found. 
Supposing, however, that a specimen is obtained in an un- 
I injured state, the observer can easily watch its method of house- 
building, by ejecting it from its tubular home, placing it in a 
vessel filled with sea-water, and supplying it with a handful of 
sand. As clearness of the water is an essential part of success, 
