38 HYDRO IDS AND JELLY-FISHES. 



mal, while the other is so heavy, and belongs to one of 

 the largest and clumsiest animals living. Along this 

 proboscis little spheres are scattered, which are eggs. 

 From these eggs are born little pear-shaped bodies- 

 very like those which I have described to you as the 

 single coral animal (see wood-cut 8 ) before it has 

 grown into a coral stock. It swims freely about for 

 awhile, then becomes attached to some shell or sea- 

 weed or stone, puts out first a few tentacles* 

 (No. 27), then gradually more, then buds 

 from the base and from the side, and grows 

 at last into a cluster of animals, a little 

 shrub, like the one with which we began. 

 So you see, with this animal, it is not the 

 child that resembles the parent, but the 

 grandchild that resembles the grandparent ; and we 

 must go through two generations before we come again 

 to the form with which it started. 



These little animals growing in clusters are all called 

 liydroids, though there are a great variety of them, dis- 

 tinguished from each other by special names, with which 

 I will not burden your memory now. Those which are 

 born from them are called Jelly- Fishes, though of these 

 also there are a number, differing in form and size, 

 having also their special names. You must not fancy 

 from this that these animals are in any way connected 

 with fishes. They are no more like a fish than a bird 

 is like a fish ; but this common name has been given 

 to them, because any thing that lives in the water is apt 

 to be associated with fish by people who know nothing 

 about them, except the fact that they inhabit the sea. 



* Young Hydroid of Coryne. 



