23B 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
shell-sand is the best material that can be supplied, and it will i 
be safer to wash the sand thoroughly before placing it in the < 
vessel. A large rough stone should also be placed in the vessel, I 
as the animal always likes to lurk behind some sheltering object 
while it is engaged in the task of house-building. 
Like many other creatures, the Terebella is a night-worker, 
and during the hours of daylight will retire behind the stone, 
and crouch in the darkest corner, as if to repose itself after the 
violent struggles and gyrations which it enacts when it is first 
taken out of the tube. Until noon is passed, the only sign of 
life will be the slight movement of the many tentacles which 
surround the upper lip ; but, as the sun declines, the tentacles 
begin to move more rapidly, and as if they had some purpose to 
fulfil. In the evening, the worm is in full work ; and as Professor 
Rymer Jones has given a clear and graphic description of its 
proceedings, I cannot do better than transfer his account to these 
pages. After remarking on the general habits of the creature, 
and describing the tentacles, he proceeds as follows 
4 They,’ i. e. the tentacles, 4 are now spread out from the 
orifice of the tube like so many slender cords — each seizes on 
one or more grains of sand, and drags its burden to the summit 
of the tube, there to be employed according to the service 
required. Should any of the tentacula slip, the same organs are 
again employed to search eagerly for the lost portion of sand, 
which is again seized and dragged towards its destination. 
4 Such operations are protracted during several hours, though 
so gradually as to be apparently of little effect ; nevertheless, on 
resuming inspection next morning, a surprising elongation of the 
tube will be discovered ; or, perhaps, instead of a simple accession 
to its walls, the orifice will be surrounded by forking threads of 
sandy particles agglutinated together. 
4 The architect has now retired to repose ; but , as evening 
comes, its activity is renewed, and again at sunrise a further 
prolongation has augmented the extent of its dwelling. 
4 At first sight, the numerous tentacula seem only so many 
long cylindrical, fleshy threads, of infinite flexibility. 
4 On examining them, however, more attentively, we see that , 
