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turned bearing the intelligence that it was | tinually spouted up various coloured fires; the retinue of Sir Michael de la Pole hasten- and, moreover, there were fair virgins in ing to Wansted Hall; that the puissant kirtles of white silk, with wreaths of May Spanish knight himself was with them. flowers about their heads, carrying lutes To this intelligence the king returned no and playing melodiously. But the king answer, but bid the cavalcade proceed stayed not to gaze on the splendid array: more quickly than it yet had done. The dismounting from his horse, he addressed Queen of May and the Goddess Flora fell himself to a tall man, whose purple visage back to give it way, and in silence the rest blended strangely with the scarlet robes he of the journey was completed, until the wore. tall towers at Plasaunce arose before them. The scene was entirely changed in its appearance since the morning: a grand masque was that night to be held within its walls, and preparations having been completed, the spectacle was exquisitely magnificent.

"My lord Cardinal," he said, "in thy charge I place her majesty. Conduct her; we pray thee, to the banquet-hall, for urgent business calleth us, for the period of an hour, from this revel. It is a matter," he continued, "that cannot be deferred."

the Cardinal, shouting with all their strength, "On before my master!-on before!--make way for the Cardinal!-on before!-on before!"

Flags, banners, and pennants hung from "Your grace's wishes," the Cardinal every portion of the ancient edifice, with replied, "shall be obeyed;" and bowing emblazoned coats of arms, tapestries, arras, lowly, so that his gorgeous robes swept rich hangings of cloth of gold and silver, the ground, he assisted Catharine to diswhilst the entwined roses of red and white mount, whilst the sound of martial music appeared on every side; and never were filled the air, and two tall priests advanced seen such rich dresses and gorgeous trap-bearing gilded crosses, and assisted by the pings, flashing in the sunbeams. There pursuivants and esquires, cleared the way for might be seen the Knights of the Bath, in their violet gowns, trimmed with ermine. The Abbots, the Barons, Bishops, Earls and Marquesses, all in their appropriate costume; the Knights in stately panoply, some encased in suits of mail richly gilded, others in polished suits of steel, some beautifully inlaid in fanciful devices, others washed with silver. 'Twas a noble sight; squires in their corslets and casques, bearing the swords and shields of their lords; pages in their gambesoons; heralds in their embroidered tabards; and the Corporation of London in velvet gowns, with golden chains about their necks; and above all a vast multitude of monstrous wild men, who con.

The courtiers fell back on either side of the court-yard, and so Thomas Wolsey and Catharine of Arragon proceeded to the banquet-hall, amidst every token of reverence and respect, for they were then at the zenith of their glory, smiled on by the bluff king whose strong will was to crush them both.

Meanwhile, the king ascended a private staircase, and entering a small chamber, ordered the doors closed against all comers.

THE

DWELLERS IN THE DEEP.

BY GEORGE ST. CLAIR, F.G.S., &c.

CHAPTER IV.-SEA-CENTIPEDES, &c. (Classes ANNELIDA, ENTOZOA,
AND ROTIFERA.)

classes we are now to speak of are these annelids; and if you ask me, "What's called the vermiform, or worm-shaped, in a name?" I shall say the name contains classes. Almost all worms being composed of the naturalist's opinion of the beauty of a succession of rings, or segments, or annuli, these creatures. Amateurs at the sea-side they are included under the term annulata, are, of course, not aware at first of the or annelida. With these go the entozoa, existence of so much retiring beauty. parasitic animals which live inside the Amateurs, says Mr. Lewis, are not fond bodies of other animals; and the rotifera, of worms; nor, until they have seen seror wheel-animalcules, the vibration of whose cilia gives the appearance of a continual rotation. These classes, like the crustacea, all belong to the articulated (or jointed) subkingdom of animals, although they are on the lower border of it; and there is an absence of articulated members, and a general inferiority of structure.

pula, sabellæ, and terebellæ expanding and waving their beautiful tentacles in the water, can they understand why we should take so much trouble to secure them. And yet, apart from their beauty, the worms deserve our study.

Let us for a moment consider their blood. That some animals have red blood, and And so it is about worms we are to hear others blood not red, you may be aware; to-day! Worms indeed! A pretty dish but that the worms have blood of various certainly to set before us; and a pretty colours is probably news to you. The kettle of fish the author will make of it! sea-mouse, however, has colourless blood; Well, the dish may be a pretty one in the the polynoë, blood of a pale yellow colour; most literal sense. If we look to outward the sabella, olive green; and one species appearance, we shall find that many of the of sabella, dark red. B. it a more remarkmarine annelids may well be reckoned able thing is the absence of corpuscles among the handsomest of creatures.. They from the blood of all annelids. The cordisplay the rainbow tints of the humming puscles, as you know, are the floating solids birds, and the velvet, metallic brilliancy of of the blood, and their office in the body is the most lustrous beetles. The vagrant of very great importance; yet the blood of species that glide, serpent-like, through the all annelids is entirely destitute of them. crevices of the submarine rocks, or half- They possess, however, another fluid-a creeping, half-swimming, conceal themselves second sort of blood, if you like to call it so in the sand or mud, are pre-eminently—not circulating in vessels, but oscillating beautiful. "Talk no more of the violet as in the general cavity of the body. the emblem of modesty," exclaims De Quartrefages, "look rather at our annelids, that, possessed of every shining quality, hide themselves from our view, so that but few know of the secret wonders that are hidden under the tufts of the algae, or on the sandy bottom of the sea.' Nereïs, Euphrosyne, Eunice, Alciopa - charming names from the Greek mythology-have been appropriated to various species of

Another wonderful thing is that many creatures of the vermiform classes multiply by gemmation, as it is called: that is to say, the parent gives off a part of its own body, which becomes a complete and distinct animal, as buds or slips on a tree may be separated and made to grow. The Syllis Prolifera, one of the annelids, sends off new individuals in this way; one of the segments, or rings, towards the hinder part of the body

changing into a head, and the new animal | quits its hiding-place, or is uncovered by

becoming detached by the narrowing of the joint in front of it. Previously to its separation, however, the young one often forms another bud from its own hinder part, in a similar manner; and even three generations have been seen thus united. If you were to cut a caterpillar in half, fashion a head for the tail half, and then fasten this head to the cut end of the other half, this would give you an image of the Syllis budding. Two terebella (tubicolous annelids) kept by Mr. Lewis, budded in this way. The first died before the separation took place; the second, after a day or two's captivity, separated itself from its appendix of a baby, and seemed all the livelier for the loss of a juvenile which had been literally "hanging to its mother's tail." The young one lived four days. The Naïs and the Myriana also multiply by gemmation. Bonnet, the naturalist, frequently found the Naïs double, and saw the separation take place; he also cut the worm into several pieces, and observed each piece reproduce its head and grow into a perfect worm. To set the matter beyond all doubt, Mr. Lewis informs us that, at the time of writing his book, he had two Naïds in separate vessels, who had reproduced their heads and probosces under the following circumstances. The two worms were first cut in half, the fragments which bore the heads were thrown away, and those which bore the tails were placed in vessels with nothing but water and a little mud, in which, as he had scrupulously ascertained, no worm or other visible animal was concealed. In a few days the complete heads were formed; and what is more, the heads were examined daily during their formation. When the animals were quite perfect, he once more cut them in two, threw away the head fragments, and replaced the tail fragments in their vessels. A second time the heads were formed. A third time the experiment was repeated; and even after their fourth section the worms were still lively, and giving promise of new heads and pro

bosces.

Annelids, like most other creatures, find life to a considerable extent a struggle and a warfare. When an imprudent individual

the waves, it may reckon itself fortunate if it escapes the greedy teeth of an eel or a flat-fish. It is even affirmed of the latter, as it is of the whelks, that they know perfectly well how to dig the annelids out of the sand. Sea-spiders, lobsters, and other crustacea are more dangerous enemies, since their hard shell-armour renders them invulnerable by the annelid's bristle-weapons. But on the other hand, almost all the annelids feed on living prey, which they enclasp and transpierce with their bristly feet. Some, lying in wait, dart upon their victims as they heedlessly swim by, seize them with their jaws, and stifle them in their deadly embrace. Others, of a more lively nature, seek them among the thickets of corallines, millepores, and algæ, and arrest them quickly before they can vanish in the sand.

It is time, however, to say that the Annelida are divided into four orders, and that some of them are not dwellers in the deep. The first order is called Dorsibranchiata. Don't be afraid of the name: it is useful as indicating that we shall find the branchial appendages, or gill-tufts, disposed along the back. They do, in fact, sometimes extend along the entire length of the body, while sometimes they are restricted to the segments about the middle. As the animals of this order are very active in their habits, they are also denominated by some the Errantia. They generally crawl with facility, and swim rapidly; their chief habitations are among rocks and masses of shells, but some of them bury themselves in the sand, forming a sort of burrow, lined with mucus secreted from their own bodies. They are rather superior to the other orders in their structure, and have more varied faculties.

The sea-centipedes belong to this order. They are for the most part worms of considerable size, usually brown or green, with a changeable metallic lustre above, and brilliantly pearly beneath. They have 2 distinct head of a squarish form, terminating in two swollen, fleshy, knob-like antennæ, and furnished with four pairs of thread-like tentacular cirri, which project on each side like a cat's whiskers. We can scarcely turn one of these flat stones, says Mr. Gosse,

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which lie half-buried in sandy mud at the of the light, so that this creature is scarcely water's edge, without finding one or more of surpassed by any in beauty of colouring. this tribe. Let us try. Here at once is a 'It is a strange thing,' says the Rev. J. G. specimen; one of the finest as well as one Wood, and one that shows the lavish of the commonest of all (the Nereis mar-beauty of creation, that an animal endowed garitacea). The upper surface is of a warm with such glorious colours-colours that fawn-brown, but the beautiful flashes of can only be exhibited by a full supply of iridescent blue that play over it in the light-should have its habitation in the changing light, and the exquisite pearly mud.' The bristles of the sea-mouse are opalescence of the delicate pink beneath, not only worthy of notice on account of are so conspicuous as to have secured it the their wonderful colouring, but also on actitle of "pearly," par eminence. As you count of their shape. Among other offices gaze upon it, you see the great dorsal blood- they seem to play the part of weapons, like vessel, or heart, as a dark-red line running the spines of the porcupine or hedgehog. along the middle of the back. Our Nereïs But as they surpass the hedgehog's quills is furnished with two pairs of dark-blue in external beauty, so do they in form. eyes, and a proboscis set with horny points. The Nereida, or .sea-centipedes, have none of that venomous power which their name might be supposed to indicate; but they are extremely voracious, and thread the most intricate passages and crevices among rocks and stones, in pursuit of their prey.

There are certain islands called "Friendly," whose amicable inhabitants are famous for the ingenuity of their clubs wherewith to knock out another friend's brains, and of spears wherewith to perforate him. Many of these spears are made with rows of several barbs, one placed immediately above the other, in order to add more destructive power to the weapon. Now, if the Friendly Islanders had possessed microscopes, we might with some justice have said that they took their idea of the many-barbed spear from the bristles of the sea-mouse; for a magnified representation of one of these bristles would give a very fair idea of the "Friendly" lance.

Nearly allied to the Nereïs is the Eunice. The Eunice gigantea of the West Indian seas sometimes measures four feet in length; and species of a much larger size are said to occur in the southern seas. There are smaller species upon our own coasts-the Eunice sanguinea, for instance, about two and a half feet long; and an examination of this creature would perhaps suffice to show that worms are not necessarily uninteresting things. The body consists of about three hundred rings or segments, all of them of course very small. The creature possesses a brain and three hundred ganglions (or nerve-centres), from which about three thousand nervous branches proceed. Two hundred and eighty stomachs digest its food, five hundred and fifty branchiæ refresh its blood, six hundred hearts distribute this vital fluid throughout the body, and thirty thousand muscles obey the will of the worm, and execute its snake-like move-its oxygen through the delicate skin. ments!

The aphrodita is an animal well known on our coasts under the name of sea-mouse, probably on account of the large quantity of silky hairs with which it is covered. These hairs are of a very brilliant metallic lustre, and their colours vary with the play

A large number of these aphrodite are not unfrequently thrown up on our coasts. after a gale of wind: should they be wanted at other times, they must be dredged for, since they dwell at some depth. The respiration of the animal is singular; the back is covered by a thick felt of matted hair,, which is permeable by water, and which, being lifted up by two rows of broad plates placed beneath it, allows the water to filter through it, and to fill a large chamber between it and the back, where it parts with

The lob-worm, so well known to fishermen, who use it as a bait, belongs to this order; but is so far from keeping up the character of the errantia, that he dwells constantly in the sand, forming a burrow of twelve or eighteen inches in depth. The poor lob has a large head and no eyes; its gill

tufts are arranged in a row on each side of the middle part of the body, branching out like a well-trained fruit-tree against a wall. As soon as the tide goes out, parties of boys may be seen, knee-deep in the muddy sandflats, searching for the worms, whose fate it will be to go on the hook.

Annelids, like crustacea, molluscs, zoophytes, and evil-doers, prefer darkness to light. They are so impatient of the light, that they speedily die in your jars and bottles unless abundant shadows protect them. When kept in an aquarium, they so hide themselves among the weeds and stones that it is not always an easy matter to find them.

the sea.

flowers much more perfect than those which adorn your garden, as they are endowed with voluntary motion and animal life. At the least shock, at the least vibration of the water, the splendid tufts contract, vanish with the rapidity of lightning, and hide themselves in their stony dwellings, where, under cover of the protecting lid, they bid defiance to their enemies.

If we carefully break the shelly tube, so as not to crush the tenant, we are able to expose the latter to view. We then see that its length is by no means commensurate with the length of its house, of which indeed, it inhabits only the last-made portion, having behind a roomy space into which to retire in case of need. It is not more than an inch or an inch and a quarter long, rather wide in proportion, and flattened. When it withdraws itself with lightning-like rapidity on alarm, it brings into play a large number of muscles of indescribable delicacy, and catches hold of the lining membrane of the tube by means of thirteen thousand or fourteen thousand microscopic teeth.

Dwelling in a tubular house, the serpula would find its breathing organs scarcely available if these were placed, as in most annelida, in pairs on the body-segments. They are, therefore, much modified, and that not only in position but in form. They consist of most elegant, comb-like filaments, one row on each side of the mouth. Examined under a low microscopic power they present a most charming spectacle, the red blood being seen, with beautiful distinctness, driven along the artery and back by the vein in ceaseless course.

The second order of the annelids is called tubicola. They never attain to the same dimensions as the preceding, and more is known of the tubes or casings which they form, than of the structure of the animals themselves. The chalky shell of the serpula is so abundant on the shore that before you have turned many stones, in search of animals, the chances are that your hands will be cut in fifty different places by their lancet-like edges. The tubes are generally found clustering in masses, attached to the surface of stones, shells, or other bodies which have been immersed for any length of time in Those who have seen the relics from the wreck of the Royal George, will remember several specimens of these accretions. They are always closed at one end, which tapers to a point, the wide end being open to give exit to the head and mouth of the inhabitant. If a group of these tubes be taken into the hand, they will all appear to be empty and useless; but if the tube is not very much contorted, a something scar- On the flat fronds of sea-weeds may frelet may be seen at some little distance down quently be seen a minute spiral shell. This it, and by that sign the living state of the is the Spirorbis, the animal of which is inhabitant may be known. Place them in closely related to that of the serpula. The a vessel filled with sea-water, and you will food of these annelids probably consists of soon see how, in every tube, the small round animalcules and small marine animals, tocover is cautiously raised, and the inmate gether, perhaps, with particles of dead makes its appearance. You now perceive animal matter, which are brought towards small buds, here dark violet or carmine, the mouth by the currents created by the there blue or orange, or variously striped. cilia on the gill-tufts. See how they grow and gradually expand their splendid boughs! They are true flowers, that open before your eyes, but

Besides the serpulæ, we have to notice several other animals of this group, which do not form their tubes by exuding chalky

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