448 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



present in their internal structure a set of lenses, and 

 all the parts necessary for distinct vision. It is cer- 

 tainly hard to conjecture of what use eyes can be to 

 creatures so circumstanced ; and yet, who knows of 

 what indolent enjoyment they may be capable? Do 



they 



" In coral bowers love to lie, 

 And hear the surges roll above, 

 And, through the waters, view on high 

 The proud ships sail, and gay clouds move ?" 



We leave the reader to his own speculations upon this 

 subject. 



The next great puzzle that suggests itself relative 

 to the (economy of the Ascidian Mollusca is the mode 

 in which they are propagated and dispersed through- 

 out the seas ; for surely it would be difficult to point 

 out any race of beings less adapted by their habits 

 and sedentary character to the dissemination of their 

 species. They might lay eggs, it is true, and those 

 eggs, consigned to the tender mercies of the waves, 

 might be washed about hither and thither, the sport 

 of chance ; yet even thus the helpless progeny would 

 find it difficult to gain a resting-place, were they, 

 when hatched, as limbless and as senseless as their 

 parents. Here comes another prodigy ; for, wondrous 

 to relate, although the parent is as still and motion- 

 less as the dull weed to which we have compared it, 

 the young Ascidian at its birth presents itself in the 

 shape of an active, seeing, wriggling, swimming 

 thing, well able to disport itself, and choose at will a 

 resting-place where to attach itself for life. 



For one of the earliest accounts of the extraordinary 



