56 THE BUDDING OF HYDRA. 



little conical eminence at the base of the prehensile organs (t). 

 The opposite end (b) of the body is closed, and slightly expanded 

 in the form of a disc, by which it attaches itself to various ob- 

 jects, such as pond-lilies, duck-weeds, or even to the sides of 

 stones on the margins of lakes. At certain seasons very few 

 individuals are to be found which are not in the condition which 

 we have represented here, that is, having either one, two, or three 

 younger individuals (a, c) growing out from each single adult. 

 The process of this kind of reproduction is very clear: the bud 

 begins in the form of a simple bulging from the side of the 

 sac-like body ; it increases by a mere prolongation, as if the wall 

 were puffed out in the form of a hollow cylinder with a rounded 

 end, and presently minute processes rise around this end, and 

 produce a form such as stands out from the body on our left (a). 

 We have, now, all that is essential to the new individual, but 

 in a rudimentary condition. To attain to perfection, then, the 

 cylinder elongates, as represented on our right, (c,) and the 

 minute processes, the tentacles, simply develop into thread-like 

 bodies, (2 1 ,) whilst the rounded end becomes more prominent and 

 conical, and a perforation appearing therein, a mouth is formed. 

 In this condition the little creature is prepared to seek its own 

 prey. Its independence is finally accomplished by a gradual 

 constriction of the base of the new body, at the point where it 

 is attached to the old stock, until it finally, as it were, cuts itself 

 off. From this time, it is as purely an individual as the one 

 from which it budded, and, like that, it reproduces its own like- 

 ness, and apparently without limit as to numbers. Sometimes 

 this occurs before the young stock is detached from the primary 

 one, and in this way a numerous colony is produced, which has 

 all the physiognomy of a minute branching water-weed. To 

 heighten the deception, some species of Hydra are green, and 

 in their most expanded state, with the tentacles spun out to 

 excessively fine threads, they resemble tufts of green silk waving 

 backwards and forwards under the influence of varying currents. 

 Finally, however, the whole ramified mass scatters into numerous 

 branchlets, and each individual pursues its own independent 

 course. 



