. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE SHORE into its tube the gills collapse and vanish, and the entrance of the tube is exactly closed by the conical stopper. The Serpula is a lovely inhabitant of tlie aqnariuni, but has an inconvenient habit of dying, sometimes coming out of the tube for tliat puri>ose, and sometimes retreating to its farthest recesses, and there i>u- trefying, to the great damage of the aqua- rium. There are several kinds of Serpula, some of which are only attached by the lower part of
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE SHORE into its tube the gills collapse and vanish, and the entrance of the tube is exactly closed by the conical stopper. The Serpula is a lovely inhabitant of tlie aqnariuni, but has an inconvenient habit of dying, sometimes coming out of the tube for tliat puri>ose, and sometimes retreating to its farthest recesses, and there i>u- trefying, to the great damage of the aqua- rium. There are several kinds of Serpula, some of which are only attached by the lower part of the tube, and hold the rest of that wonderful structure up- right in the water; some, li] the present species, intertwine their tubes very much like a handful of boiled mac- aroni ; while others, such as the Serpula triquetra, form tubes which do not project at all, but are affixed to their suiiports through- out their entire length. This species makes a triangular tul)e. There are many interesting circumstances connected with the habits and structure of these lovely worms, but oui- failing space will not admit of a longer description. We now come to another pretty tube-inhabiting annelid, which is called Sabella, because it lives in the sand and fonns its tube of that substance. Several species of Sabella ai'e found on the European coasts, the most common of which is the Shore Sahella {Sabella alreolaria), a little creature seldom exceeding three-quarters of an inch in length. As is the case with many of these worms, it has a thin tail-like appendage at the extremity of its body, which is doubled up within the tu)>e. The head is furnished with a great number of little thread- like tentacles, which are very tlexible, and under a good microscoi)e are seen to have a groove running along the centre, and a double rov/ of teeth along the edges, something like the snout of a saw-fish. This is a useful species to the naturalist on account of its plentiful occui-rence, and readi
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
