Annulosa, Worms, and Entozoa.
The Annulosa of Huxley embraces the lowest grade of articulated animals, most of which are now grouped with Metazoa, while some writers place them in a sub-kingdom Vermes. It appears to me then only possible to describe this heterogeneous group of worm-like animals among those which resemble each other in certain negative features, but not possessing any of the distinctive characters of those previously described. There are numerous species among Entozoa, every one of which is of the highest interest to mankind in general, and to animal life as a whole. To these I shall devote some attention, from the wide-spread importance attached to them. They are characterised by having a soft absorbent body with little or no colour, in consequence of being excluded from light, living within the bodies of animals and absorbing their vital juices, thereby inflicting a large amount of injury and death upon the whole vertebrate kingdom. They bear in this respect a close analogy to parasitic Fungi in the nature of their destructive action upon plant life, which I have fully discussed in a previous chapter.
The relations which obtain between parasites and their hosts are in all respects conditioned by their natural history; and without a detailed knowledge of the organisation, the development, and the mode of life of the different species, it is impossible to determine the nature and extent of the pathological conditions to which they give rise, and at the same time find means of protection against guests in every way so unwelcome.
The nutritive system of the entozoa must be regarded as in the lowest state of development, yet there are some among them of a higher grade, as will be seen as we proceed. All are remarkable alike for their vast productiveness and for their peculiar metamorphoses. For example, the greater number of the Tænia begin their lives as sexless, encysted larvæ, and on entering their final abode, segments are successively added, until the worm has finally reached the adult stage. Again, the tapeworm of the cat has its origin in the encysted larvæ found in the livers of the mouse and rat. Another species of entozoa inhabit the stomach of the stickle-back, and only attain their perfect form in the stomachs of aquatic birds that feed exclusively on fish. Another infests the mantle of pond-snails, and through their agency, the embryos pass into the stomach of sheep.
An almost endless number of similar transformations take place in other genera. The simplest form among internal parasites is the Gregarinæ, formerly grouped among Protozoa. They consist of a simple limiting membrane, with a mass of granular matter enclosed and surrounding a nucleus ([Plate III]., No. 53). These parasites pass through a crystoid stage in the body of one of the lower animals, usually the earthworm, Lumbricus agricola. In the more mature organism an envelope, differentiated from the protoplasm within, can be made out (No. 54); this affords an indication of greater differentiation in the subjacent layer of protoplasm. An anterior portion is in many cases separated by a constriction from the cylindrical or band-like body (No. 56). Gregarinæ multiply when encysted, and divide into a multitude of minute pseudo-navicula, so named from their resemblance in shape to a well-known form of Diatomaceæ. When a young pseudo-navicule escapes it behaves somewhat like an amœba, and if perchance it is swallowed by an appropriate host, it develops at once into the higher stage. The various forms are represented in [Plate III]., Nos. 53—61. Miescher, in 1843, described suchlike bodies, taken from the muscles of a mouse. A good account of specimens obtained from the muscles of a pig was published by the late Mr. Rainey in the “Philosophical Transactions,” 1857. He regarded them as cestoid entozoa. They have been described under a variety of names, as worm-nodules, egg-sacs, eggs of the fluke, young measles, &c. M. Lieberkühn carefully traced the pseudo-naviculæ after leaving the perivisceral cavity of the earth-worm; he found large numbers of small corpuscles, exhibiting amœba-like movements, as well as pseudo-naviculæ, containing granules, formed in an encysted Gregarinæ. He imagines that these latter bodies burst, and that their contained granules develop into the amœbiform bodies which subsequently become Gregarinæ.
Professor Ray Lankester made a careful examination of more than a hundred worms for the purpose of studying these questions, but he succeeded in arriving at no other conclusion than that certain forms may be the by-products of encysted Gregarinæ. The G. lumbricus is one of those forms which are unilocular. The vesicle is not always very distinct, and is sometimes altogether absent; occasionally it contains no granules, sometimes several, one of which is generally nucleated. In other of these cysts a number of nucleated cells may be seen developing from the enclosed Gregarina, which gradually become fused together and broken up, until the entire mass is converted into nucleated bodies, often seen in different stages of development, assuming the form of a double cone, as that presented by certain species of Diatomaceæ. At length the cyst contains nothing but pseudo-naviculæ, sometimes enclosing granules; these gradually disappear, and finally the cyst bursts. Encystation seems to take place much more rarely among the bilocular forms of Gregarinæ than in the unilocular species found in the earthworm and other Annelids.[73]
Dr. J. Leidy published in the “Transactions of the Philadelphia Society,” 1853, the results of his examinations of several new species of Gregarinæ. He described a double membrane “within the parietal tunic of the posterior sac, this being transparent, colourless, and marked by a most beautiful set of exceedingly regular parallel longitudinal lines.”
Professor R. Leuckart is the latest writer on the parasites of animals, and to him we are indebted for a more systematic account of the whole group, and their life-history, than to any previous investigator. I can only attempt to give a mere outline of the developmental stages of a few typical forms of parasites, commencing with the cystic tapeworm, Tænia. These worms are ribbon-like in appearance, and are divided throughout the greater part of their length into segments, and their usual habitation is the intestinal cavity of vertebrate animals. The anterior extremity of a tænoid worm is usually called the head, and bears the organ by which the animal attaches itself to the mucous membrane of the creature which it infests. These organs are either suckers, or hooks, or both conjoined. In Tænia, four suckers are combined with a circlet of hooks, disposed around a median terminal prominence. The embryo passes through certain stages of development—viz., four forms or changes: but the embryo itself is very peculiar, consisting of an oval non-ciliated mass, provided with six hooks, three upon each side of the middle line. Tænia are found enclosed in various situations besides that of the alimentary canal: the eye, the brain, the muscular tissues, the liver, &c., of animals. The following cystic worms are usually included in this genera, Cysticercus Anthocephalus, Cœnurus, and T. Echinococcus. [Plate IV]., No. 100, shows an adult specimen of the latter with rostellum suckers, and three successive segments, the last of which is the ova sac. The water-vascular system is represented coloured by carmine. This parasite infests the human body as frequently as many other species. My accurately-drawn figure is copied from Cobbold’s “Introduction to the Study of Entozoa.”
Cysticercus fasciolaris is developed within the liver of white mice; Cysticercus cellulosæ in the muscles of the pig; hence we have the diseased state of pork familiarly known as “measly pork.” Should a lamb become infested with Tænia the final transformation will be different; within a fortnight symptoms of a disease known as “staggers” manifest themselves, and in the course of a few weeks the Cœnurus cerebralis will be developed within the brain. Von Siebold pointed out the bearing of this fact upon the important practical problem of the prevention of “staggers.” Others belonging to the same class of parasites are quite as remarkable in their preference for the alimentary canal of fishes. The Echinorhynchus is developed in the intestinal canal of the flounder, Triænophorus nodulus in the liver of the salmon. Thus, by careful and repeated observation with the microscope, a close connection is found to exist between the cystic and cestoid entozoa.
The Echinococcus ([Plate IV]., No. 101) infests the human liver. These parasites are always found in cysts, and in closed cavities in the interior of the body. They are united in fours by a very short stalk or pedicle, common to the whole. By an increase of magnification the contents of a cyst present the several structures represented in [Fig. 376].
Echinorhynchus, or spiny-headed threadworms, constitute a group of entozoa which undergo a metamorphosis hardly, perhaps, less remarkable than that known to take place in other Nematode worms. Leuckart instituted, in 1861, a series of experiments with the ova of Echinorhynchus proteus found parasitic upon the Gammarus pulex. The ova of E. proteus resemble in form and structure those of allied species. They are of a fusiform shape, surrounded with two membranes, an external of a more albuminous nature, and an internal chitinous one. When the eggs reach the intestine the outer of these membranes is absent, being in fact digested, while the inner remains intact until ruptured by the embryo.
Fig. 376.—Cystic Disease of Liver (Human).
a. Cyst with Echinococcus enclosed; b. detached hooklets from the head of Echinococcus, magnified 250 diameters; c. crystals found in cyst, chiefly cholesterine; d. cylindrical epithelium, some enclosed in structureless vesicles; e. Puro-muculent granules, fat and blood corpuscles.
The typical Threadworm belonging to the order Nematoidea infest the intestines of children, and are a source of much suffering. The egg is elliptical, and contains a mass of granular protoplasm, the external wall of which soon becomes marked out into a layer of cells. The mouth of the worm appears as a depression at the end of the blunt head. When the muscular system and alimentary canal are developed the embryo hatches out, some few of which are free living forms; most of them lead a parasitic life. Their reproduction is enormous, representing thousands of eggs and embryos.
Of the non-parasitic species of thread-worm, the common vinegar eel, Anguillula,[74] affords an example. This is found in polluted water, bog-moss, and moist earth, as well as in vinegar; also in the alimentary canal of the pond-snail, the frog, fish, &c. Another species is met with in the ears of wheat affected with a blight termed the “cockle”; another, the A. glutinis, in sour paste. If grains of the affected wheat are soaked in water for an hour or two before they are cut open, the so called “eels” will be found. The paste-eel makes its appearance spontaneously just as the pasty mass is turning sour; the means of securing a supply for microscopical examination consists in allowing a portion of the paste in which they show themselves to dry up, and laying it by for stock; if at any time a portion of this is introduced into a little fresh-made paste, and the whole kept warm and moist for a few hours, it will be found to swarm with these wriggling little worms. A small portion of paste spread over the face of a Coddington lens is a ready way of viewing them.
Trichina spiralis.—One of the smallest and most dangerous of all human internal parasites is T. spiralis, since it finds its way into the muscles throughout the human body. The young animal presents the form of a spirally-coiled worm in the interior of a minute oval-shaped cyst ([Plate IV]., No. 104), a mere speck scarcely visible to the naked eye. In the muscular structure it resembles a small millet seed, somewhat calcareous in composition. The history of the development of Trichina in the human muscle is briefly that in a few hours after the ingestion of infected pork, Trichina, disengaged from the muscle, will be found in the stomach: hence they pass into the small intestine, where they are further developed. Continuing their migrations, they penetrate far into the interior of the primitive muscular fasciculi, where they will be found, in about three days after ingestion, in considerable numbers, and so far developed that the young entozoa have almost attained a size equal to that of the full-grown Trichina ([Plate IV]., No. 105). They quickly advance into the interior of the muscular fasciculi, where they live and multiply in continuous series, while the surrounding structures as well as the muscular tissue undergo a process of histolysis. The destructive nature of the parasite is very great.
The number of progeny produced by one female may amount to several thousands, and as soon as they leave the egg they either penetrate through the blood-vessels, or are carried on by the circulation, and ultimately become lodged in the muscles situated in the most distant parts of the body. Here, as already explained, they become encysted.
Fig. 377.—Monads in Rat’s Blood, stained with methyl violet, showing membrane under different aspects; blood-corpuscles, some crenated and others with stained discs (× 1,200).—(Crookshank.)
Professor Virchow draws the following conclusions:—“1. The ingestion of pig’s flesh, fresh or badly dressed, containing Trichinæ, is attended with the greatest danger, and may prove the proximate cause of death. 2. The Trichinæ maintain their living properties in decomposed flesh; they resist immersion in water for weeks together, and when encysted may, without injury to their vitality, be plunged in a sufficiently dilute solution of chromic acid for at least ten days. 3. On the contrary, they perish and are deprived of all noxious influence in ham which has been well smoked, kept a sufficient length of time, and then well boiled before it is consumed.”
A more minute Filarian worm has been detected in the human blood-vessels, known as Filaria sanguinis hominis. This worm carries on its work of destruction throughout the night; during the day it remains perfectly passive. It increases rapidly, and produces swellings of the glandular structures of the body, somewhat after the nature of those characteristic of the Bombay plague, with a slight difference, that after death the swellings are seen to be due to the vast accumulations of the Filaria sanguinis blocking the blood-vessels. The accompanying [Fig. 377] shows a similar infiltration of monads in the blood of rats dying of plague in Bombay.
Trematode Worms.—In the order Trematoda, to which the fluke belongs, the body is unsegmented, and to the naked eye smooth throughout, with a blood circulatory system, and two suctorial discs at the hinder end. There is a distinct digestive canal, usually forked, furnished with only one aperture, the mouth. The excretory organs open out as in tape worms, and the male and female organs co-exist in the same individual.
The Fluke (shown in [Plate IV]., No. 103) is cone-shaped, and is the Amphistome conicum of Rudolphi. This parasite is common in oxen, sheep, and deer, and it has also been found in the Dorcas antelope. It invariably takes up its abode in the first stomach, or rumen, attaching itself to the papillated folds of the mucous membrane. In the full-grown, adult stage, it rarely exceeds half an inch in length. It is certainly one of the most remarkable in form and organisation of any of the internal parasites.
The larger fluke (Fasciola hepatica) often attains to an inch or more in size. It is not only of frequent occurrence in all varieties of grazing cattle, but has likewise been found in the horse, the ass, and also in the hare and rabbit and other animals. Its occurrence in man has been recorded by more than one observer. The oral sucker forming the mouth leads to a short œsophagus, which very soon divides into two primary stomachal or intestinal trunks, the latter in their turn sending off branches; the whole together forming that attractive dendritic system of vessels so often compared to plant-venation. This remarkably-formed digestive apparatus is represented in [Plate IV]., Nos. 106 and 107, Fasciola gigantea of Cobbold, and should be contrasted with the somewhat similarly racemose character of the water-vascular system. Let it be expressly noted, however, that in the digestive system the majority of the tubes branch out in a direction obliquely downwards, whereas those of the vascular system slope obliquely upwards. A further comparison of the disposition of these two systems of structure, with the same systems figured and described as characteristic of the Amphistoma, will at once serve to demonstrate the important differences which subsist between the several members of the two genera, if we turn to the consideration of the habits of Fasciola hepatica, which, in so far as they relate to excitation of the liver disease in sheep, acquire the highest practical importance. Intelligent cattle-breeders, agriculturists, and veterinarians have all along observed that the rot, as this disease is commonly called, is particularly prevalent after long-continued wet weather, and more especially so if there have been a succession of wet seasons; and from this circumstance they have very naturally inferred that the humidity of the atmosphere, coupled with a moist condition of the soil, forms the sole cause of the malady. Co-ordinating with these facts, it has likewise been noticed that the flocks grazing in low pastures and marshy districts are much more liable to the invasion of this endemic disease than are those pasturing on higher and drier grounds; a noteworthy exception occurring in the case of those flocks feeding in the salt-water marshes on our eastern shores. [Plate IV]., No. 106, Fasciola gigantea: the anterior surface is exposed to display oral and ventral suckers, and the dendriform digestive apparatus injected with ultra-marine; No. 107 shows the dorsal aspect of the specimen and the multiramose character of the water-vascular system, the vessels being injected with vermilion.
In their larval condition the Amphistoma live in or upon the body of the pond-snail. This we infer from the circumstance that the larvæ, or cercariæ, of a closely-allied species, the Amphistoma subclavatum, are known to infest the alimentary canal of frogs and newts, and have also been found on the body of the Planorbis by myself. The cercariæ larvæ are taken, it is believed, by the sheep and the cattle while drinking. The earliest embryotic stage in which I have found the embryo fluke is represented at [Fig. 378], No. 1. In the year 1854, whilst observing the habits of Limnœa and other water-snails, I brought home specimens from the ornamental water in the Botanic Gardens; upon these were discovered thousands of minute thread-like worms, subsequently met with on other embryos, and at first taken to be simple infusorial animals, but upon placing them in a glass vessel these minute bodies were observed to detach themselves and commence a free-swimming existence. A fringe of cilia was seen to surround the flask-shaped body (No. 1).
Fig. 378.—Forms of Cercaria; stages in the development of the Fluke.
1. An infusorial embryo; 2. a Trematode embryo having quite recently escaped from the egg; 3. embryo cercaria; 4. fully-formed cercaria, showing alimentary canal and sucker-like head; 5. encysted form of same; 6. Cercaria furcata, with the nervous system and forked tail displayed; 7. in the act of breaking up; 8. tail portion half an hour after division; 9. parasitic worm of another species of Trematoda. (Magnified from 10 to 25 diameters.)
The study of these embryos throws a flood of light upon the obscure history of Cercariæ. After a short period of wandering, their embryos fasten upon the water-snail, and compel it to act as a wet-nurse, and prepare it for a further and higher stage of life. The earliest condition in which I have discovered them concealed about the body of the water-snail is shown at No. 2; in appearance, a simple elongated sac filled with ova or germs, and which in a short time develop into the caudate worms already spoken of; their tails gradually attaining to the length of the mature embryos, Nos. 3 and 4, the latter being a full-grown Cercaria ephemera.
Diesing described no less than twelve species of Cercariæ, some of the most curious of which live on the puddle-snail, in colonies of thousands. All throw off their tails at the moment of changing into a fluke. On placing some Cercaria furcata (Nos. 6 and 7) under the microscope, they were seen to plunge about in frantic attempts to escape from confinement. Suddenly I saw them shed their tails and their bodies divide into two parts, each half swimming about as vigorously as before, quite indifferent as to the severance, and apparently dying from exhaustion. Those represented in Nos. 6 and 7 have a highly-organised nervous system, forming a continuous circuit throughout the body and tail. The mouth is furnished with a sucker and hooklets, which can be projected out some distance, while a digestive apparatus and ventral opening or sucker can be differentiated. The tail is bifurcated and articulated with the body by a sort of ball-and-socket joint, and when broken off, the convexity of one part is seen to accurately fit into the concavity of the other; it lashes about this appendage with considerable dexterity, rarely attaching itself to any of the small aquatic plants.[75]
There is yet another Filarian worm, a pest to the poultry-yard, the Gape-worm, Sclerostoma syngamus. This parasite is widely distributed, and is invested with special interest, since it produces disease, and kills annually thousands of young chickens, pheasants, partridges, and many of the larger kinds of wild birds. The worms find their way into the windpipe or tracheæ, through the drinking water, while in the embryotic or cercarian stage of existence, and their increase is so rapid, the birds quickly die of suffocation. The female gape-worm often attains to a considerable size, and when full grown resembles the well-known mud-worm of the Thames (Gordius aquaticus). She measures full six-eighths of an inch in length, while the male only measures one-eighth. So insignificantly small is he that the female carries him about tucked into a side pocket. The ova sac occupies a considerable portion of the internal body space, and is always found loaded with eggs in all stages of development, numbering some five hundred or a thousand. In shape these are ovoid. On cutting open the windpipe of chicken and partridges, I have found their tracheæ literally swarming with the gape-worm.[76]
A remarkable form of the Trematode worm is Bilharzia hæmatobra of Cobbold, Distomia hæmatobium of other authors ([Plate IV]., No. 102). This genus of fluke, discovered by Dr. Bilharz in the human portal system of blood vessels, gives rise to a very serious state of disease among the Egyptians. So common is the occurrence of this worm, that this physician expressed his belief that half the grown-up population of Egypt suffer from it. Griesinger conjectures that the young of the parasite exist in the waters of the Nile, and in the fish which abound. Dr. Cobbold thinks “it more probable that the larvæ, in the form of cercariæ, rediæ, and sporocysts, will be found in certain gasteropod mollusca proper to the locality.” The anatomy of this fluke is fully described by Küchenmeister in his book on parasites, by Leuckart,[77] and by Cobbold. The eggs and embryos of Bilharzia are peculiar in possessing the power of altering their forms in both stages of life; and it is more than probable that the embryo form has been mistaken for some extraordinary form of ciliated infusorial animal, its movements being quick and lively. We cannot fail to notice the curious form of the male animal, and, unlike the Filarian previously described, it is he who carries the female about and feeds her. The whip-like appendage seen in the figure is a portion of the body of the female. The disease produced by this parasite is said to be more virulent in the summer months, probably owing to the greater abundance of cercarian larvæ at this period of the year.
Fig. 379.—The double parasitic worm (Diplozoum paradoxum).
There are also double parasitic worms, which may be described as a sub-order of Trematoda, differing very much from those previously described. These live on the gills of several species of fresh-water fish, the gudgeon and minnow, for instance. Among them is a most remarkable creature well deserving the name of Diplozoum paradoxum which has been bestowed upon it. It consists of two complete mature similar halves, each possessing every attribute of a perfect animal (a). Each of the pointed front ends has a mouth aperture, and close to it two small sucking discs; while each individual has a separate intestine, consisting of a medium tube and innumerable side-branches. At the hinder end of the body are two suckers sunk in a depression, and protected by four hard buckle-shaped organs. The eggs are elongated, and provided at one end with a fine thread-like appendage (b). In this egg the young (c)—which at the time of hatching is only about one-hundredth of an inch—takes about a fortnight to develop. It is covered with cilia, has two eyes and two suckers; after quitting the egg, the larvæ are very lively and restless in their movements, gliding about and then swimming off with rapidity. If unable to find the fish into which they are destined to live, they grow feeble and perish, but if successful they grow into the Diporpa (d), which is flattened and lancet-shaped, and bears a small sucking disc on the under surface and a conical excrescence on the back. After living in this state for some weeks, and gaining nourishment by sucking the blood from the fish’s gills, the worms begin to join together in pairs, one specimen seizing the conical excrescence of another by its ventrical sucker; then, by a truly acrobatic feat, the second twists itself to the dorsal excrescence of the first, and in this state an inseparable fusion takes place between the suckers and the excrescences involved in the adhesion.[78]
In the group Vermes, the more highly-organised Annelida must be included. These, for the most part, live either in fresh or salt water. The Annelids are various, while the Planaria, a genus of Turbellaria, are very common in pools, and resemble minute leeches; their motion is continuous and gliding, and they are always found crawling over the surfaces of aquatic plants and animals, both in fresh and salt water. The body has the flattened sole-like shape of the Trematode entozoa ([Fig. 378], No. 9), the mouth is surrounded by a circular sucker; this is applied to the surface of the plant from which the animal draws its nourishment; it is also furnished with a rather long proboscis, which is probably employed for a similar purpose.
Planariæ multiply by eggs, and by spontaneous fissuration in a transverse direction, each segment becoming a perfect animal. Professor Agassiz believes that the infusorial animals, Paramæcium and Kolpoda, are simply planarian larvæ.
Hirudinidæ, the leech tribe, are usually believed to form a link between the Annelida on the one hand, and the Trematoda on the other; their affinities place them closer with the latter than the former. Although deprived of the characteristic setæ of the Annelida, and exhibiting no sectional divisions, they are provided with a sucker-like mouth possessed by Trematoda, but they present no resemblance to them in their reproductive organs. On the other hand, in the arrangement of the nervous system and in their vascular system, the Hirudinidæ resemble Annelida. The head in most of the Annelida is distinctly marked, and furnished with eyes, tentacles, mouth, and teeth, and in some instances with auditory vesicles, containing otolithes. The nervous system consists of a series of ganglia running along the ventral portion of the animal, and communicating with a central mass of brain.
Hirudina medicinalis puts forth a claim for special attention on the ground of services rendered to mankind. The whole of the family live by sucking the blood of other animals; and for this purpose the mouth of the leech is furnished with a number of strong horny teeth, by which they cut through the skin. In the common leech three rows of teeth exist, arranged in a triangular, or rather triradiate form, a structure that accounts for the peculiar appearance of leech bites. The most interesting part of the anatomy of the leech to microscopists is certainly the structure of the mouth ([Fig. 380]). This is a muscular dilatable orifice, within which three beautiful little semi-circular saws are situated, arranged so that their edges meet in the centre. It is by means of these saws that the leech makes the incisions whence blood is to be procured, an operation which is performed in the following manner. No sooner is the sucker firmly fixed to the skin, than the mouth becomes slightly everted, and the edges of the saws are thus made to press upon the tense skin, a sawing movement being at the same time given to each, whereby it is made gradually to pierce the surface, and cut its way to the capillary blood-vessels beneath.
Fig. 380.—Mouth of Leech.
In Clepsinidæ the body is of a leech-like form, but very much narrowed in front, and the mouth is furnished with a prehensile proboscis. These animals live in fresh water, where they may often be seen creeping over aquatic plants. Their prey is the pond-snail.
Tubicola.—The worms belonging to this series of branchiferous Annelida are all marine, and distinguished by their invariable habit of forming a tube or case, within which the soft parts of the animal can be entirely retracted. This tube is usually attached to stones or other submarine bodies. Externally it is composed of various foreign materials, sand, crystalline bodies, and the débris of shells; internally it is lined with a smooth coating of sarcode, sometimes of a harder consistency. The Tubicola generally live in societies, winding their tubes into a mass which often attains a considerable size; only a few are solitary in their habits. They retain their position in their cases by means of tufts of bristles and spines; the latter, in the tubicular Annelids, are usually hooked, so that by applying them to the walls of the case, the animal is enabled to oppose a considerable resistance to any effort made to withdraw it. In the best known family of the order (Sabellia), the branchiæ are placed in the head, and form a circle of plumes, or a tuft of branched organs. The Serpulidæ form irregularly twisted calcareous tubes, and often grow together in large masses, when they secure themselves to shells and similar objects; other species, Terebellidæ, which build their cases of sand and stones, appear to prefer a life of solitude. The best known form is Terebella littoralis.[79] The curious little spiral shells seen upon the fronds of seaweeds are formed by an animal belonging to the Spirorbis.
Fig. 381.—Serpula with extended tentacles and body protruding from calcareous case.
If the animals be placed in a vessel of sea-water a very pleasing spectacle will soon be witnessed. The top part of the tube is seen to open, and the creature cautiously protrudes a fringe of tentacles; these gradually spread out two beautiful fan-like rows of tentacles, surrounded by cilia of a rich purple or red colour. These serve the double purpose of breathing and feeding organs. When withdrawn from its calcareous case, the soft body is seen to be constructed of a series of rings, with a terminal prehensile foot by which it attaches itself.
Many Annelids are without tubes or cells of any kind, simply burying their bodies in the sand near tidal mark. The Arenicola, lob-worm, is a well-known specimen of the class; its body is so transparent that the circulating fluids can be distinctly seen under a moderate magnifying power. Two kinds of fluids flow through the vessels, one nearly colourless, the other red; the vessels through which the latter circulate are described as blood-vessels.
Not very much interest attaches to the developmental stage of the Annelida. They issue forth from ova, and the embryo so closely resemble ciliated polypes, that competent observers have mistaken them for animals belonging to a lower class; a few hours’ careful watching is sufficient to dispel a belief of the kind, when the embryonic, globular, or shapeless mass is seen to assume a form of segmentation, and soon the various internal organs become more and more developed, eye spots appear, and the young animal arrives at the adult stage of its existence.