64 CLASSIFICATION AND CREATION. 



stinct of affection in a creature of so low an 

 organization, and I again separated it from the 

 eggs, and placed them at a greater distance, 

 when the same action was repeated. On trying 

 the experiment a third time, the bundle of eggs 

 had become loosened, and a few of them dropped 

 off singly into the water. The efforts which the 

 animal then made to recover the missing ones, 

 winding itself round and round them, but failing 

 to bring them into the fold with the rest, because 

 they were too small and evaded all efforts to 

 secure them when once parted from the first 

 little compact mass, convinced me that there was 

 a definite purpose in its attempts, and that even 

 a being so low in the scale of animal existence 

 has some dim consciousness of a relation to its 

 offspring. 



I afterwards unwound the mass of eggs, which, 

 when coiled up as I first saw it, made a roll of 

 white substance about the size of a coffee-bean, 

 and found that it consisted of a string of eggs, 

 measuring more than twelve feet in length, the 

 eggs being held together by some gelatinous 

 substance that cemented them and prevented 

 them from falling apart. Cutting this string 

 across, and placing a small section under the 

 microscope, I counted on one surface of such a 

 cut from seventy to seventy-five eggs ; and, esti- 

 mating the entire number of eggs according to 



