CHAPTER XI
MARINE WORMS
Some groups of animals are so well defined that the individual species contained in them can be assigned their proper place without any difficulty, the main characteristics by which the group is distinguished running with more or less precision throughout the series; but, unfortunately this is not the case with the ‘worms,’ which constitute the sub-kingdom Vermes. Here we have a most heterogeneous assemblage of animals, collectively exhibiting exceedingly wide variations in both form and structure.
We have already referred to the sea cucumber as wormlike in form, and this creature is only one of a large number of wormlike animals that are not worms; and it is also a fact that a considerable number of the worms are not wormlike. It appears as if the sub-kingdom Vermes were a kind of receptacle into which we may throw almost any invertebrate animal that does not readily fall in line with the general characteristics of the other important groups; for in it we have such a varied assemblage of creatures that, speaking of them collectively as worms, it becomes most difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to say exactly what a worm is; and it is a question whether the sub-kingdom ought not to be divided into at least two or three groups of the same standing.
This being the case we can hardly give a satisfactory summary of the characteristics of the group, and therefore it must be understood that in our attempt to do so we unavoidably exclude some forms that belong to it according to our present system of classification. This being remembered, we will define worms as soft-bodied and elongated animals, exhibiting a bilateral symmetry (that is, having appendages and organs arranged symmetrically on each side of a plane extending from the dorsal to the ventral surface through the centre of the body), and with the body usually divided into a succession of segments, each of which resembles the one preceding and following it. Though many of the worms are generally looked upon as uninteresting creatures, of such an unattractive appearance and with such depraved habits that they are beneath respect, yet a study of the sub-kingdom will prove that not only does it include a number of wonderful forms with the most marvellous life histories, but that some of them are very beautiful objects; and this last remark refers more particularly to many of the marine worms, which come directly within the scope of our work.
Before passing on to the special study and classification of the marine species, however, we must say a few words concerning the worms in general, reminding the reader that all our statements regarding the anatomy of the creatures may be readily verified by simple dissections of one or two typical species, such as the common earthworm, the fisherman’s lugworm, the sea mouse, or the common horse-leech of our fresh-water ponds. With this object in view, the animal may be killed by immersion in spirit, then pinned out in the dissecting tray under water, and the body-wall opened by means of a pair of sharp-pointed scissors.
The digestive tube of a worm runs completely through the length of the body, and though there is no distinct head, there is always a mouth, and this is often provided with horny jaws, and sometimes also with horny teeth, with which the animal is enabled to inflict wounds on its prey.
Like the preceding sub-kingdom—the Echinodermata—worms possess a system of water tubes; this system, however, is not in any way connected with the function of locomotion, but is, in many cases at least, if not in all, intimately associated with the process of respiration. It consists of a series of tubes, arranged in pairs in the successive segments, communicating with the body-cavity internally, and opening at the exterior by means of pores in the cuticle. In some there is a highly organised system of bloodvessels, containing blood that is usually either colourless, red, or green, but the colour of the blood is never due to the presence of corpuscles, as is the case with higher animals, the tint being due to the plasma or fluid portion of the blood; and though worms cannot be said to possess a true heart, yet they often have one or more contractile bloodvessels which serve the purpose of propelling the blood.
Most worms possess a nervous system, and, where this is present, it consists of a chain of ganglia, placed along the ventral side of the body, beneath the digestive tube, all united by means of a nerve cord, and distributing nerves in pairs to various parts of the body; and it may be well to note here one very important point of distinction between the general arrangement of the central portion of the nervous system in the worms and higher invertebrates, as compared with that of the corresponding structure in the vertebrates:—In the former the main axis of the system, consisting, as we have seen, of a chain of ganglia connected by a nerve cord, is invariably placed along the ventral portion of the body-cavity—the surface on which the animal crawls; while in the vertebrates the axis of the nervous system lies along the upper or dorsal part of the body; and, instead of lying in the general body-cavity, in company with the organs of digestion and circulation, is enclosed in the bony canal formed by the vertebral column. It will be seen from this that when it is desired to examine the nervous system of the invertebrate animal, the body-wall should be opened along the middle of the ventral surface, while, in the vertebrate, the central axis should be exposed from above.
Many of the vermes are parasitic, either attaching themselves to the exterior of other animals, and deriving nourishment by sucking their blood, or they are internal parasites, living in the digestive canal of their hosts and partaking of the digested food with which they are almost perpetually surrounded, or burrowing into the tissues and imbibing the nutritive fluids which they contain; and it is interesting to study even these degraded members of the group, if only to observe how their physical organisation degenerates in accordance with their depraved mode of living. In them we find no digestive system with the exception of the simplest sac from which the fluids they swallow may be absorbed, for their food is taken in a condition ready for direct assimilation; and the food so obtained being readily absorbed into all parts of their soft bodies, and being sufficiently charged with oxygen gas by the respiration of their hosts, they require no special organs for circulation or respiration, nor, indeed, do we find any. Further, we find that the nervous system is often undeveloped; for since the parasites, and especially the internal ones, are so plentifully surrounded with all the necessaries of existence, their bodies are so simple in construction that no complex nervous system is required to promote or control either locomotion or internal functions. Even the general body-cavity often disappears in these degraded creatures, the internal organisation being of such a low type that there is no necessity for it; and all the abundant nourishment absorbed over and above that required for the sustenance of their simple bodies is utilised in the reproduction of the species; consequently we find, as a rule, the reproductive organs well represented, and the species concerned very prolific.