1 THE POTTER (Terebella figulus)
2 Terebella littoralis
XII.
Having visited the sea-side a few weeks since, along with some 'aquarian naturalists,' among other objects we managed to capture a very fine Terebella Figulus, commonly called the 'Potter.' The specimen measured about five inches in length, and was nearly as thick as a common drawing pencil. I could discover no signs whatever of any tube in the rocky basin in which the Annelid was situated, a circumstance that struck me as being rather curious.
On returning home, my much-valued prize was placed in a tumbler of large dimensions, the base of which I strewed with newly-pounded shells and gravel. By the following morning all the fine or powdered portion of the 'Silver Willies' had been collected and used in the construction of a tube, sufficient in length to cover half the contracted body of the industrious little mason. After labouring for a fortnight, the tube was gradually extended across the bottom of the vase in a cylindrical form, but eventually it assumed a semi-circular shape, being built upon the glass, and elevated by gentle stages up each side of the vessel until the level of the water was reached, when all further labours ceased for a time.
After the lapse of a few days the building operation was resumed, and the tube carried fully an inch further, at right angles to its former position. The opposite end of the structure was next extended at an angle of 45° from the base of the vase, to a height of about two inches. Then commenced a very curious phenomenon. Some of the tentacles were incessantly elevated and extended across the vessel, until they touched the opposite end of the tube, with what object I could not then conceive. The design, however, was afterwards made evident: in less than two days the animal succeeded in making both ends of its tube meet together, so as to form a continuous circle. I happened to be watching the mason, when the last stroke of his labial trowel was given to the building, and shall never forget the cautious way in which the animal crept for the first time over the newly-completed portion of the work, and the seeming delight with which it continued to glide, hour after hour, over the entire circuit of its dwelling-place.
Sometimes its body would be long drawn out, until the tips of the tentacula would reach, and apparently tickle the extreme point of the tail; then a race would commence, in character exactly resembling that so often witnessed with the kitten, or the playful whelp, when either of these animals foolishly imagine that the tip of their tail is adorned with some coveted tit-bit.