The Fan-Amphitrite.
X.
At the lowest ebb of spring-tide may often be seen protruding above
the surface of the beach an object that at a little distance might be
mistaken for the twig of a tree, or a decayed and blackened reed. A
close examination discloses it to be a smooth, tough tube, apparently
composed of dark leather or old gutta-percha, affixed at its lower
extremity to some rock or other solid substance.
The pretty Annelid occupying this dark cylinder is the Fan-Amphitrite
(_A. ventilabrum_). Unlike the Terrebella, this animal may really be
captured without much difficulty. The first time I made the experiment
it was successful. By carefully digging down with chisel, or digits,
to the base of the tube, which may be reached in the course of a
few minutes, the entire structure, with its living occupant, may be
transferred to your extemporaneous tank.
I have an Amphitrite in my aquarium at the present time displaying its
richly-tinted tentacula to the sun, which lights them up with unusual
beauty.
As the 'case' of this animal is flexible, and as its owner will only
thrive in an upright position, the reader will easily conceive that
to afford the Annelid suitable accommodation in the aquarium is not
a very easy task. What other naturalists do I cannot tell; but the
following is the plan I adopt for the creature's comfort and my own
gratification:--
Having procured a small cylinder of glass (or gutta-percha), close up
one end, and drop in the Amphitrite, taking care to first tie the lower
portion of its sheath with a piece of thread or silk. It is very pretty
to see the plume of the Annelid spreading completely over and covering
the extremity of the tube, giving the idea in the one instance that the
animal was mysteriously gifted with the power of exuding gutta-percha
instead of its usual mucus.
The Annelid may be made to recline against the sides of the vase, or be
propped up on any chosen spot by aid of a small cairn of pebbles, and
thus form a very curious feature in the aquarium.
To test a fact, relative to the power which the Amphitrite is said
to possess, in common with other tubiculous Annelids, of renewing
certain portions of its body after sustaining injury, I snipped off the
principal portions of its branchiæ, and found that, after the lapse of
a few months, my specimen renewed its mutilated organs.