THE CORKSCREW CORALLINE. 387 



grasp until it dies, may be the means of attracting the 

 proper prey to the vicinity of the mouth. The 23resence 

 of decomposing animal matter in water invariably 

 attracts crowds of infusory animalcules, which then 

 breed with amazing rapidity, so as to form a cloud of 

 living atoms around the decaying body quite visible in 

 the aggregate to the unassisted eye ; and these remain 

 in the vicinity, playing round and round until the 

 organic matter is quite consumed.'' '"' 



The animalcules thus attracted would be whirled 

 into the animal's mouth by means of its ciliated tenta- 

 cles, and thus the bird's-head would be ancillary to the 

 caj^ture of food. Mr Gosse's explanation will equally 

 hold good if the bird's-head be a parasite. One is 

 naturally reminded of the analogous Pedicellaria of 

 the Starfish. 



Whatever may be the conclusion respecting these 

 bird's-heads, the action of the bii'd being thus closely 

 imitated puts us on our guard against the tendency to 

 attribute psychological motives to the actions of animals. 

 Indeed, unless we have previously assured ourselves of 

 identity, or at least great similarity of structure, we 

 shall always be in error when concluding an identity of 

 function. Thus in the last chapter we saw how impro- 

 bable is the supposition that the . lower animals feel 

 pain, in spite of our admission that all animals possess 

 Sensibility. And every^^here the study of Comparative 

 Anatomy teaches us, that before we can truly under- 

 stand the Physiology and Psychology of animals, we 



* GOSSB : Tenhy, a Sea-side Holiday, p. 52. 



