Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/226

Rh of its tip, and rears the remainder of its tube in pillar-like erectness to the height of half a foot or more;—but of that most abundant one, which every haul of the dredge raises, on old shells, broken pottery, fragments of bottles, &c. grouped in intricately contorted and intertwisted masses, which adhere for the greater part of their length, and are free only at or near the anterior extremity.

The tubes of fine specimens are about one fourth of an inch in diameter, cylindrical, with the mouth slightly expanded. The successive stages of growth may be traced by these expansions, for the addition is evidently made, not from the expanded edge, but from a little way within, so that the general diameter of the tube is preserved, while these trumpet-lips project at irregular distances, in a foliated manner, like the bases of sheathing leaves. You would probably look with little interest on these clumps of dirty-white, rough tubes, on seeing them come up in the dredge, but in an Aquarium few objects are more attractive. As soon as the tenants of these pipes begin to feel themselves at home, they cautiously protrude. The first thing you see is what looks like a scarlet cork fitted into the mouth of the tube, as if into the neck of a bottle; by gradual steps, this is pushed a little, and a little, farther out, until at length a brilliant array of fans of the same gorgeous hue protrudes, and expands into a sort of oval funnel, defective at one side, and with the opposite margin bent inward in a sinuous form.

Take your pocket lens now, and examine the structure of these brilliant organs in detail. Presto! on