RARE AND REMARKABLE ANIMALS. 



CHAPTER I. 



FOLIACEOUS ZOOPHYTES. 



We have been chiefly occupied hitherto with animal products re- 

 sembling flowers, or shrubs, or trees — with those participating of vege- 

 table formation, while demonstrating the nature and the properties of 

 animals. As the carnation is borne on its stalk, so does the living head 

 crown the fistulous stem of the zoophyte : the hydra falls pendulous from 

 its site, as roses droop from the twigs sustaining them, — thousands of ac- 

 tive beings adorn the inorganic parts, rivalling the richest efflorescence 

 which imparts luxuriance to plants. 



But there is another great and numerous tribe of animal products, 

 resembling foliage only; while distributed in like proportion, their tenants 

 dwell in different combinations and arrangement. 



Here, though associated in thousands, does each preserve its own 

 peculiar place ; living solely for itself, independent of the life, the death, 

 and the circumstances of its nearest neighbour. Among the multitudes 

 restricted to limited space, we discover no reciprocal bond or connection, 

 nor any common channel of communication between them : neither any 

 internal pith or medullary substance pervading the polyparium. 

 vol. n. A 



