724 N E R 
prefen ting the Nereids as young women riding upon dol¬ 
phins and upon fea-horfes, holding commonly in one 
hand Neptune’s trident, and in the other a dolphin, and 
fometimes a victory and a crown : fometimes we fee them 
half-women and half-filhes, conformable to this verfe in 
Horace’s Art. Poet. “ Definit in pifcem mulier formofa 
fuperne.” Such we fee them on a medal of Marfeilles, 
and upon fome others. 
The Nereids were implored like the reft of the deities. 
They had altars chiefly on the coafts of the fea, where 
the piety of mankind made offerings of milk, oil, and 
honey, and often of the flefh of goats. When they were 
on the lea-fhore, they generally refided in grottos and 
caves, which were adorned with fliells, and {haded by the 
branches of vines. Their duty was to attend upon the 
more powerful deities of the fea, and to be fubfervient to 
the will of Neptune. They were particularly fond of 
halcyons ; and, as they had the pbwer of ruffling or calm¬ 
ing the waters, they were always addreffed by failors, who 
implored their protection, that they might grant them a 
favourable voyage and a profperous return. They are 
reprefented as young and handfome virgins; infomuch 
that Calliope, the wife of Cepheus king of Ethiopia, hav¬ 
ing triumphed over all the beauties oftheage, and daring 
to vie with the Nereids, they were fo enraged that they 
fent a prodigious fea-monfter into the country; and, to 
appeafe them, Ihe was commanded by the oracle to expofe 
her daughter Andromeda; bound to a rock, to-be devoured 
by the monfter. See Andromeda. 
NE'REIS, f. in helminthology, a genus of the order 
of mollufca, or gelatinous worms. Generic characters— 
Body long, creeping, with numerous lateral peduncles, 
or feet, on each fide ; feelers fimple, but in certain cafes 
there are none; fometimes no eyes, fometimes two, and 
fometimes four. Of this genus there are thirty-two 
lpecies, divided into three feCtions, according as the mouth 
of the worm is furnilhed with a claw or forceps, or with 
a probofcis, or with a tube. Moft of the fpecies are found 
in the North Seas, but three or four are met with on our 
own coafts. 
I. Mouth furnilhed with a claw or forceps. 
1. Nereis verficolor: body fubdeprefled; penduncleS 
pointed, and furnilhed with bridles. It is about fourinches 
long, and is found in European feas. The body has about 
eighty-five fegments, growing flenderer behind ; the co¬ 
lour of the worm is of an ochre yellow, wdth a dull red 
flreak down the middle ; the tail, and anterior fegments 
of the body, are of a dirty greenilh hue, but towards the 
middle it is fhining, with various iridefcent colours. 
2. Nereis nodiluca: body blue-green, with twenty- 
three fegments; fcarcely vilible to the naked eye. This 
fpecies is found in moft feas; and the animals are of that 
kind which frequently illuminate the water, making it 
appear as if it were on fire: the animals are extremely 
minute, pellucid, and highly phofphorefcent, giving an 
uncommonly lucid fplendour to the waves in an evening: 
by their extreme minutenefs they eafily efcape obferva- 
tion, but may be detected by palling a fmall quantity of 
the water through blotting-paper. 
Barbut, in fpeaking of this fpecies of the Nereis, fays, 
“ I have obferved with great attention a fifh juft caught 
out of the fe.a, whofe body was almoft covered with them, 
and have examined them in the dark: they twift and curl 
themfelves .with amazing agility, but foon retire out of 
our contracted fight; probably their glittering dazzles 
the eye, and their extreme minutenefs eludes our re- 
fearches. It is to be obferved, that when the unCtuous 
moifture, which covers the fcales of fifties, is exhaufted by 
the air, thefe animals are not to be feen, nor are the fifties 
then noCtilucous, the matter being, perhaps, their nou- 
rifhment when living, as they themfelves afford food to 
many marine animals. They do not lliine in the day¬ 
time, becaufe the folar-rays are too powerful for their 
light, however aggregate orimmenfe their number.” 
N E E 
3. Nereis fimbriata : body fubdeprefled ; peduncles cir¬ 
rate and glandular. It inhabits the Baltic; is about three 
inches long, and linear. The body is of a fulvous hue, 
with a blue line down the middle of the back and belly; 
the head is furnilhed with eight feelers ; and the tail is 
terminated with two threads. 
4. Nereis armillaris: body fubdeprefled; peduncles 
conic, with glandular cirri. This, like the laft, is found 
in the North Seas, buries itfelf deep in the fand, and is 
about an inch and a half long. The body is filiform, with 
three moniliform feelers on each fide the head; it has 
about 1 20 articulations, all armed with a peduncle on each 
fide the tail, ending in two long threads. 
5. Nereis mollis: lateral fafcicles of hair above the pe¬ 
duncles. It is found in the feas about Norway. 
6. Nereis pelagica: body above convex; peduncles cir- 
rate and warty. Found in the European feas, among the 
roots of ulvre, under (tones, and in empty fliells ; is about 
feven inches long, and has a kind of flexuous motion. 
7. Nereis tubicola: body fubdeprefled, and peduncles 
(lightly cirrate and globular. It inhabits the Northern 
Seas. The body is linear, with five ftraight feelers on the 
head : it forms for itfelf a rough tube of the indurated 
moifture exuding from its pores. This fpecies is ftiown 
at fig. 6. of the preceding Plate, as it appears in its tube ; 
the naked worm is {hown at fig. 7. and at fig. 8, the head 
and neck greatly magnified. 
S. Nereis Norwegica: body convex; peduncles cirrate 
and feathered. It is found in the bays about Norway, 
and is the fize of a goofe-quill. The body has 120 feg- 
ments. • 
9. Nereis pinnata: body convex; peduncles cirrate and 
■pinnate. This alfo is found in the bays of Norway, on a 
bluilh clay. The body is of a chefnut colour, with a blue 
glofs; the fegments are from 106 to 122 in number; the 
head has five jointed feelers, and the tail ends in two thick 
filaments. 
10. Nereis corniculata: body fubdeprefled, pinnate; 
the peduncles are furnilhed with a cirrus and long fimple 
briftle. It inhabits the Norway Seas, and is extremely 
minute and adtive. It is fhown, magnified, at fig. 9. and 
the head, with the eyes and feelers, more highly magnified, 
at fig. 10. 
11. Nereis pufilla: body depreffed ; peduncles cirrate, 
with jointed filaments. Found alfo in the Norway Seas. 
12. Nereis incifa : body convex ; the fegments diftant; 
and the peduncles fimple and cirrate. It inhabits the 
Greenland Seas, far from land, and among the roots of 
the larger ulvae. It is about two inches and a half long. 
13. Nereis aphroditoides : the body of this is depreffed, 
and not grooved ; the peduncles are cirrate, and furnilhed 
with papillae. It inhabits the Greenland Seas, and is 
found among the mud at bottom ; is an inch long. 
•» 
II. Mouth furnilhed with a probofcis. 
14. Nereis casrulea: fmocth, depreffed, bluifli-green, 
pellucid. This is found in the feas about our own coafts. 
The body is ftiining, about four inches long, with a groove 
along -the belly. 
15. Nereis viridis: body depreffed; the peduncles have 
lanceolate lamellae, or fcales. This is an inhabitant of 
the North Seas, and has been found at Tenby; it is from 
two to three inches long. The body is filiform, and of a 
grafs-green colour, with 130 equal fegments. 
16. Nereis maculata: body convex; peduncles with 
heart-lhaped fcales. It inhabits the North Seas, and is 
from two and a half to four inches long. 
17. Nereis craffa: body depreffed; probofcis cylindrical j 
peduncles red, with branched briftles. Inhabits theocean ; 
is feen on floating fucus, and is four inches long. 
18. Nereis ftellifera: the body of this fpecies is depreffed, 
and the peduncles furnilhed with elliptic fcales. It in¬ 
habits the North Seas, particularly in the bays of Norway. 
It has been reprefented 011 the Helminthology Plate III, 
fig. 8. vol. ix. 
,19. Nereis 
