57 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 27, 1858. 
they are covered, have gone the way of all flesh, the old shells 
remain as objects worthy of a place in a student’s cabinet. 
Among the uses to which they may be put, 1 may mention 
the construction of rock work for marine tanks, in which they 
j look natural and elegant, owing to their rugged outlines and 
| quiet colours ; and, as they are very light, they do well with 
branching coral for a vessel that, at any time, may require to 
j be moved, without the necessity of unstocking it. The crea¬ 
tures that inhabit these tubes belong to the familiar family 
of Annelids, of which the common earthworm may be re- 
, garded as the type. A very large number of these marine 
j worms find their way into our marine vessels, and their ex¬ 
quisite beauty and distinctiveness render them welcome in- 
I mates. Some, indeed, come there by accident, for specimens 
of Nereis and Syllis, which closely resemble the common 
millepede of the garden, frequently crawl out of shells con¬ 
taining hermit crabs, and, finding their way down among the 
pebbles, keep up a writhing action on the bottom, and gene¬ 
rally live for two or three months—though you may not 
happen to see them for weeks after having introduced the 
hermits. Frequently the presence of a Nereis in a whelk 
shell is made known at feeding time, when a mysterious 
worm-like head pops out from behind the crab, and snatches 
the choice morsel from his mouth, and then instantly with¬ 
draws to masticate the stolen dainty in secret. At other times 
specimens of the family are found completely covering an old 
shell which you may have received with an Actinia, or with a 
tuft of Algae, but these are the masons of the family which 
construct cavernous recesses on the surfaces of shells and 
stones, giving a rough appearance to them, similar to the 
i gouty knobs on the branches of old apple trees in wet ground. 
It is well to examine with a lens the rough shells and 
| stones in the tank, especially if the latter are soft sandstone, 
to discover if they are not studded with little feathery fans 
all over the surface; as you will, probably, find yourself the 
possessor of dozens of pretty creatures which have come to 
you accidentally and gratis, for these creatures abound not 
only on objects dredged from deep water, but on ordinary 
shoal gatherings. I find immense numbers of Sabellse and 
t Terebellse on half-rotten fragments of sandstone that come to 
me from the south coast, well covered with Ulva latissima , 
and which, owing to its rapid decay in the tank, the red frag¬ 
ments continually crumbling from it, would be a perfect 
! nuisance, were it not honeycombed with myriads of the beau- 
1 tiful worms which afford one much amusement in the use of 
a lens. 
All these worms are formed on the principle of a centipede, 
that is, the body is composed of successive rings, or annular 
joints, so that they are enabled to contract and expand, length¬ 
wise, at pleasure. The first joint is the head, to which is ap¬ 
pended the branchial frills, the protrusion of which gives such 
| attractiveness to the shells on which the colonies have estab- 
| lished themselves. The other joints are usually furnished 
with feet-like processes, that enable the animal to creep for¬ 
ward to the mouth of its tube, or retreat back again when 
alarmed in the Dorsibranchiata , of which the Nereis is an 
example ; the gill tufts are associated with these bristles; but 
in the Tubicola , represented by the Serpulse, they are attached 
! to the head. 
The most popular members of the family of marine Annelids 
are Serpulse, of several species, Terebellse, Sabelke, and the 
famous Sea Mouse, Aphrodita aculeata , which is so intercst- 
| ing and beautiful a creature, that we must give it special con¬ 
sideration hereafter. The Sabellci alveoluta is, decidedly, a 
sand worm; it constructs a congeries of sandy tubes, which so 
regularly cross and interlace, as to prove a very perfect honey¬ 
comb ; and it prefers a flat surface for its operations, and lives 
in colonies of thousands of individuals. Home ot the caves 
that are accessible on the coast, w r lien the spring tides are out, 
may be found entirely mined over by this industrious creature, 
and if a block of the loose material is placed in the tank, it 
will be seen to be regularly dotted all over by their expanded 
gills, resembling, at first sight, a prolific birth of young gem- 
maceous Anemones. Terebella concMlago likes a harder ma¬ 
terial, and usually builds his tube of mmute pebbles, grains 
of sand, and small shells, which he cements together in just 
the same way as the Caddis worm. These tubes are very 
brittle, and are pretty sure to undergo some amount of damage 
in collecting them; but, unless the creature within also suffers 
injury, the damage is soon repaired. Between these two 
animals, the differences of habit and structure are sufficiently 
striking to enable the most inexperienced observer to dis¬ 
tinguish them. The Sabelke, like the Serpulse, display a pretty 
comb of gills; but the Terebellse carry an Actinia-sort of head, 
adorned with slender tentacles, wreathed, as it were, with 
snakes. It is also locomotive, and will sometimes leave its 
tube and mount the glass by means of its tentacula, and 
sometimes it will travel along the surface of the water with 
its body in a vertical position, the tentacles bolding to the 
stratum of air at the surface, on the plan of walking on a 
ceiling. But Serpulse are the most attractive, and for beauty 
of form and colour, are not to be put in the shade by the most 
beautiful of the sea flowers. If you watch, after having 
allowed a specimen some little repose, you will see it thrust 
forth a pair of bright coral fans, right and left, and between 
these is an elegantly-formed trumpet of the same dazzling 
coral hue. The species is Serpula contortuplicata; it is very 
abundant, and, hence, easily procurable, and with very mo¬ 
derate care proves hardy and long-lived. The way in which 
tins Serpula usually constructs its stony tube, is to lay it close 
to the stone or shell to which it is attached, the greater part 
of its length, and then to turn it upwards, so that the last 
few rings are elevated perpendicularly. On examining a bunch 
of these tubes, and they are generally involved in curious 
twistings, many together, the successful additions may gene¬ 
rally be counted from the narrow beginning to the last ex¬ 
panded annulus, from which the creature displays its lovely 
fans and stopper, in the same way as we can count the fines 
of growth on the shell of a mollusk, and especially in the 
shell of the oyster. The pretty fans are the breathing organs, 
and, under a lens, their construction is seen to be on the plan 
of a series of combs, and it is an easy matter to detect their 
relationship to the branchial appendages of other aquatic 
creatures. The casual observer will easily learn the use of 
the neatly-formed trumpet, for the mere passage of the hand 
before the glass, or above the surface of the water, is suffi¬ 
cient to alarm the newly-caught Serpula, who, in an instant, 
closes up his fans, and withdraws into the tube, to which the 
trumpet acts as a.stopper. On close examination, another 
trumpet will be discovered, associated with the one which 
plays this conspicuous part in the animals movements, but 
it is undeveloped, and minute, the visible one serving the 
purpose to which it is put, and fitting closely inside the 
mouth of the tube. Whatever may be said about taming 
creatures which seem so destitute of intelligence, as sea worms, 
the Serpulse certainly change their habits somewhat in con¬ 
finement, and instead of withdrawing on the slightest alarm, 
even of a footfall, or the passing of a shadow over the vessel, 
get at last quite bold, and remain expanded, in spite of small 
disturbances. At first it is quite impossible to examine them 
minutely, owing to their timidity; but after a while, they will 
give the student every opportunity for applying a lens to 
them, and there are few subjects more worthy of a close 
scrutiny. 
In common with other tube worms, and with hermit crabs, 
the Serpula usually leaves his home to die. A sudden alarm, 
or a long-continued foulness of the water, will sometimes cause 
him to throw off' the trumpet; but this act is not always 
followed by immediate death. I have had specimens that 
lived a fortnight after the stopper had been ejected, but I have 
never either heard of, nor seen, an instance in which the organ j 
had been reproduced. If the rejected stopper is removed 
from the tank, it is found to bo rigid and horny, and it re¬ 
tains its form and colour for weeks after dismemberment, 
showing that there is little decomposable material mixed up 
with its cartilage. When the worm comes out and concludes 
its career, its relations to the Annelids is easily detectod, the 
long worm-like body is formed of a series of rings, and it ter¬ 
minates in a blunt point, slightly curved. Mr. Sower by very 
lucidly describes the organs by means of which the animal 
traverses the tube, and if an examination be made immediately 
after death, these may be distinguished and counted, so as to 
furnish a pretty zoological study. lie says, “How does the 
Serpula manage to creep up and down Ins shelly tube so 
rapidly, withdrawing so instantaneously when alarmed or 
disturbed? Along the sides of his body are seven pairs of 
tubercles, with a bunch of bristles in each, which may be 
pushed out or withdrawn. Each bristle, when microscopi- 
