Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-06
Written for The Evening Star.
WORMS OF THE OCEAN,
Crawling Things Of Rainbow Hues Found
ON the Bottom of the Sea.

THERE ANYTHING more beautiful than
la worm? 1t all depends. If you speak of
the worms of the sea, few Of the most bril-
hantiy coiored flowers Of the earth can ap-
prosch them in gorgeousness. There is one
such creature of the ocean that lives in tube
buried in the mud, and, when 1t does not wish
to appear in public. it closes the tube at the
top with a stopper and so retires from view.
When it feels safe, however, and is anxious for
food 1t takes of the stopper and waves about
In the water many long and exquisitely colorod
tentacles resembling passion flower Of rain
| bow tints
Many kinds Of worms there are in the sea
that dwell in long tubes or quilts, the substance
| OF which is secreted from their bodies for pro-
| tective purposes. One sort always keeps board
ers. At all events, in its tube is nearly always
found one pair of live crabs. Another species
| OF sea worm builds Handicapped shell or
| tube, for the construction of which it selects
| the prettiest gravel and stones it can find, so
as to make of the surface a sort Of mosaic more
artistic than a human being could devise.
Other creatures of this same description cover
their dwellings with beautiful shells and fora
minifera, while others still find homes in the
interior recesses of conch shells, SO that upon
taking out hermit crab from one of these
sneHs III Is usuai 10 nnu worm OF the species
mentioned behind it.
DIVISION OF SELF.
An interesting sort of sea worm reproduces
its kind in a manner altogether astonishing
Any one Of sections of which it is composed
seems likely at any time to develop q head and
eyes and this segment cody ietaches itself from
the main body and goes off by itself. male or
female as the case may be. Sometimes single
worm will divide itself up into three or four
such individuals. The female, thus thrown
upon the world. is supplied with a sac full of
eggs. which, being duly 'impregnated by the
male, produce the whole worm that is destined
later to divide itself up as described.
Her majestys ship Challenger brought up
from the depth of the ocean certain sea worms
never heard of before. which had branches like
tree. One sea worm not uncommon along
this coast has proboscis equipped with power
full hooked teeth with which it seizes its prev
and having grasped it. it devours it by turning
itself inside out like glove finger.
SEA cENrrpEDEs.
Among the most interesting worms Of ocean
are the so-called sea centipedes which are
covered with readily detached bristles. If you
step upon one or grasp it, these bristles stick
into the skin and cling there, so that they are
removed with some difficulty by scraping the
surface with a keen-edged knife. These are
found along the southern coast Of this con-
tinent and on the shores Of the West India
Islands
There are certain sea worms that board In
the tubes of other sea worms and one thing
very funny noticed about them is that when
tube are always found to be darker in color
than Is ordinary, though whether this is the re-
suit OF annoyance at having to take care of such
more or less welcome guests it has been impos-
sible thus far to ascertain.
THE TYPICAL SEA WORN
that lives in tube has both ends Of its dwell
ing, which il IN the shape of hook buried in
the mud, communicating by openings with the
water above. For the sake OF maintaining it's
health the water Is drawn in at one end of the
tube and expelled through the other; and,
when the animal desires to seek food, it rises
to the former Of these two openings and waves
about in the water its many tentacles, exhibit
ing most wildly all the cofors OF the rainbow.
1t breathes, too, in the case of many species.
by means of .branchia," which are modified
tentacles filed with its blood and inclosed each
Of them within so thin skin that the blood takes
in oxygen from the water do the gills of fish.
1t is worth mentioning that, il almost any sea
worm is cut in two, the tail will produce a head
or the head tail, thus making two individuals
out Of one.
PROTECTED BIT JELLY
There is q sea worm called the ''phyllodOce'
that when frightened excretes from its pores o
jelly-like substance. SO that when you pick one
up it seems positively to be inclosed in mass
OF jelly. Sometimes a worm of another species
finds its home in branch of coral and the
coral builders construct their walls around the
animal. SO that as the worm grows they actu-
ally build tube TO inclose him and so provide
him with home. This tramp worm, as he
might be called, finds such accommodations
most agreeable, merely taking care to keep
both ends of the tube thus made for him open so
that he may breathe. There is no class Of ami
mails existing that has such brilliant and beau
| tiful coloring as the sea worms, many Of them
with their brightly tinted tentacles and
branchia resembling the most gorgeous bios
SONS of the field.