68 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



CHAPTER VI. 



" Formerly, the credulous were more ardent in quest of mar- 

 vels than of the undisguised simplicity of truth. Nor did they 

 seek those marvels which bounteous nature is alway prepared 

 to disclose to them, for the purpose of mental elevation, or in 

 adoration of the Omnipotent Architect. Rather than pursue 

 knowledge for their own improvement by discovery, they de- 

 scended to the baser objects of imposture and deception. Had 

 they been exalted by the purity of intellectual contemplation to 

 a due estimate of the religion of nature as revealed by the struc- 

 ture of the animated universe, unspeakable sources of admira- 

 tion would have been opened before them." 



HISTORY OF THE HYDRA TUBA. 



THE naturalist whose diligent and careful researches 

 lead him to examine with due attention the surfaces 

 of stones, shells, or fuel found at low tide close to the 

 water's edge in some sequestered pool, will, if good 

 luck attends him, sometimes find adhering to them 

 in considerable numbers, creatures resembling those 

 delineated PL I. fig. 5, , and having found them, let 

 him lose no time in adding an acquisition so valuable 

 to the best of his aquarian treasures. This is the 

 Hydra tuba, whose romantic history (one of the most 

 important zoological discoveries of modern times) we 

 are now about to lay before the reader. 



The mouth, which is situated in the centre of the 

 circle of tentacula, when the animal is not disturbed, 



