FLUSTRA. 7 



tentacula directed towards the toe or point of the slipper, which are ex- 

 posed either through the finest film above, or by an orifice; figs. 10, 11. 



On March 31, six hydroe had originated from six yellow spots upon 

 the side of the vessel. Had their element been renovated, they might 

 have appeared earlier. But the period requisite for attaining maturity is 

 not uniform or definite. Nature is modified in these lower animals, after 

 a manner unknown in the higher. 



A similar process, having advanced with the yellow spots seen at the 

 bottom of the same vessel on March 20, they were subjected to the micro- 

 scope on the 1st of April. Their hydroe had evidently sprung from that 

 substance, whose residue appeared, as the diminished nucleus amidst a 

 diffusing margin. One issued from this substance considerably aside of 

 the nucleus, with about 20 tentacula, testifying lively activity, and a per- 

 cussive faculty ; besides closing frequently by reciprocal incurvature of the 

 extremities, so that the whole head, usually campanulate, now became 

 spherical. 



The yellow nucleus had wholly disappeared in another day. One end 

 of the diffusing margin was rising as a prominence, at the base of which lay 

 the cell with its tenant, a yellow tinge distinguishing the body of the 

 latter. The extremity of the body was affixed below, at a point farthest 

 from the prominence. 



These early observations, confirmed by some of subsequent date, indi- 

 cated the young Flustrne as the progeny of the old. Yet to the inex- 

 perienced naturalist, had his observations terminated here, one noted pe- 

 culiarity tended to subvert this conclusion, in the opposite arrangement 

 of the parts. Every adult specimen rose vertically as usual with most 

 zoophytes of unobstructed growth, and the side of the leaf was studded 

 with cells whose hydrse protruded horizontally. Likewise the whole cells 

 were high above the root, nor were any to be discovered either on the 

 stem, or on its yellow margin. But among the young, the relative posi- 

 tion and arrangement of the parts were altogether different. The nascent 

 hydra issued vertically from a horizontal cell and orifice. Hence to 

 identify the offspring with the parent, both conditions should have been 

 reversed. 



