SEA-ANEMONES AND CORALS. 21 



and though they can expand their soft parts, or with- 

 draw them at will into their solid frame, they cannot 

 be separated from it, for it is as necessary to their life, 

 and as much a part of it, as our bones are a part of 

 our bodies. 



There is one thing I have not told you about these 

 animals, and that you will think very odd in their way 

 of living. They are all connected with each other, 

 the body of each one opening at its base into that of 

 the next ; so that what enters in at the mouth of one, 

 after circulating in his body, passes into the next : thus 

 you see when one eats his dinner, it nourishes not only 

 himself, but all his neighbors too. 



