THE OUTCASTS OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
135 
CHAPTER VII. 
THE OUTCASTS OF ANIMAL LIFE, AND THE 
ELASTIC-RINGED ANIMALS BY SEA AND BY LAND. 
" And ever at the loom of Birth 
The Mighty Mother weaves and sings ; 
She weaves fresh robes for mangled earth ; 
She sings fresh hopes for desperate things." 
KINGSLEY. 
E have now traced the history of 
four out of the seven divisions 
of animal life, and have seen how 
each, by taking a different road, 
has managed to get a footing for its 
members in various nooks and spaces 
in the world. We must next try to 
gain some idea of that small fifth 
division containing the Worms ; in 
which is shadowed forth, as it were, 
that ringed structure which we shall 
find so remarkable in the sixth and 
largest division which follows. But, 
before arriving at the true ringed 
worms, we must pause for a moment 
to glance at that curious, wandering, and outcast 
population of our globe, which, finding no shelter in 
the earth, or sea, or air, have taken up their abode 
within their fellow-creatures and live upon them. 
