Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/62

43 this as it may, we secure a few specimens to mount for the Microscope, and again to work; away wriggle ere we can lay hands on them, myriads of the small pink Nereis, not very unlike the Centipede in appearance, having legs regularly disposed on each of the numerous segments of which its body consists, but belonging, as will readily be seen, to the Annelida, a class named from Annellus (a small ring), in which are comprised creatures whose bodies are composed of a succession of rings, the leech and common earthworm being familiar illustrations, but there is even yet a more interesting type which inhabits those small elongated tubes which are so abundant in low water on this beach; these tubes are apparently made of grains of sand, particles of which, from being waterworn, shine out like diamonds, and are cemented together by some substance (what it is we know not) which exudes from the body of its occupant, a Terebella belonging to the division Tubicola of Cuvier. Our own experience enables us to confirm the remark of Mr. Lewes, that "Amateurs are not fond of Worms," but the peculiar structure of some of them, the beauty of their tentacles when expanded (in Terebellæ or Serpulæ for instance), demand careful examination from those having a love for Natural History. The Keeper of one of the bathing houses here has lately exhibited to the frequenters of his establishment a tiny impromptu Aquarium, in which, amidst other things, were groups of Serpulæ, whose tentacles carefully expanded when everything