no ZOOPHYTES. 



stead of a number, confusing the view. The subjects secured in this man- 

 ner are afterwards easily accessible. 



I have attempted to feed these original hydrse with the expressed 

 juice or minute particles of animal matter : but I cannot affirm it to have 

 been attended with positive success. They are on the whole much more 

 perishable than the young generated by gemmation from the side of the 

 adult animal. 



The preceding narrative proves that the parent of the Marine hydra, 

 under discussion, is a Medusa. No such parent has been hitherto as- 

 cribed to the hydrse of the fresh-waters, though the resemblance between 

 the two be so intimate: nor has any similar metamorphosis been conjectured. 



Yet we ought not to relax our exertions to discover such a singular 

 natural process there, — nor, I will own, should I be much surprised were 

 something analogous found by the industrious explorers of the mysteries 

 of the Divine creation. 



§ 3. Origin of the Medusa Bifida, the Cloven Medusa. — 

 Plates XVIII. XIX. XX. 



We have viewed the subject of the first and second paragraphs of this 

 chapter exclusively as a hydra or polypus, an animal apparently perfect in 

 itself, and subsisting in independent life — presenting all the properties of 

 that singular genus ; nor exhibiting any such discrepancies as to sanction 

 its removal to be incorporated with some other race. It visibly originates, 

 feeds, breeds, lives, and dies, after the same manner as the rest of the 

 species ; therefore, in as far as we have gone, we should associate it with 

 them. A creature which survives for years, which transmits its form, to- 

 gether with all its peculiarities, to its immediate progeny, and to remote 

 descendants, seems at first sight entitled to a distinct position in the Sj/f:- 

 tema Natiirce. 



But as no observation can be too correct, nor any reasoning unsus- 

 tained by direct evidence, too profound, so ought due precaution to warn 

 the naturalist against receiving presumptions for facts. 



