140 A Courfe of Experiments 



EXPERIMENT XL 



Cutting a Polype tranfverjlyy 7iot quite 

 through. 



li/JAY^ II, 1743. I cut a large P^^;/^, 

 •^'^ when contraded, tranverfly, in the 

 Middle, through about three Parts in four of 

 its Body ; in order to try whether the divided 

 Parts would unite again, or if a Head, or 

 Tail, or both, would be produced ; or what 

 would be the Confequence of 

 ^^^^^ foch a Sedion. 

 ^^1^ The Cut was thus. 



On putting it into Water, it lay at firft in 

 a Lump, and without Motion, at the Bot- 

 tom of the Glafs, but in about a Quarter 

 of an Hour extended it felf in this Man- 

 ner. 



Soon afterwards it reared itfelf on the 

 Tail, and played its Arms about : where- 

 upon I offered it a Piece of Worm, which 

 it greedily catched hold of; and vifuing it 

 an Hour after, I found the Worm quite 

 eaten up, the Body greatly diftended, and 

 the Lips of the Wound perfectly clofed, but 



a kind 



