PLUMATELLA. 383 



of still greater elegance, which seemed to be a favourite one, 

 and which we have seen assumed by above a hundred of 

 the polypes at once. In this case, the outer range, consist- 

 ing of twenty-six tentacula, was spread out in the graceful 

 manner we have mentioned. The inner range, however, 

 was made to resemble an elegant pavilion, the opposite ten- 

 tacula meeting together at the top in the form of a Gothic 

 arch. Taking a survey of the whole, however, it had the 

 appearance of a tented field, where a miniature army lay 

 encamped ; — or, as there was so much more grace and ele- 

 gance than soldiers' tents exhibit, you were led to think of 

 some splendid tournay, where the princes and nobles of the 

 land had in all their pomp assembled, vying with each 

 other in the magnificence of their pavilions, with which the 

 plain far and wide was studded. 



And gay as it was, it was a field of warfare. The po- 

 lypes were not the only inhabitants of the watery plain : it 

 was inhabited also by Infusoria ; many of which, green, and 

 white, and grey, could be seen with the naked eye, wanton- 

 ing in all the joy of active life. ^It was to trepan these 

 little thoughtless " minims of nature '' that the tentacula of 

 the Plumatella were thus artfully spread out. Elegant as 

 the arched pavilion might appear, it was to them the cham- 



