SUPPLEMENT ON POLYPI. 573 
terval between the stomach, and the external skin of the body, 
is filled with very singular viscera, which have not been yet 
sufficiently developed to enable us to communicate a very 
clear notion of them. Some membranaceous and vertical 
lamine proceed from one of its surfaces to the other, like the 
radii of a circle. They are not of equal height. Their 
superior edge is furnished with very complicated fringes. 
There are also found in the interior part of the body, some 
long, tortuous, and very slender intestines. We do not find 
in the body of these animals, any thing which can be regarded 
as nerves or blood-vessels. 
Through the experiments of Reaumur, of Baster, and 
more especially of Dicquemare, the history of these animals 
has become extremely curious. Their multiplication takes 
place in two ways; the first is natural, and consists in a 
spontaneous dilaceration of a portion of the ligaments of the 
base, which is performed by the constriction of this part. 
Then may be observed, escaping by this dilaceration, one or 
several small portions of the animal, which in a little time 
become new actiniz of the same species as that of which they 
had composed a part. Dicquemare obtained an artificial 
multiplication, at least equally singular. He separated some 
parcels from the base of an actinia, and beheld them almost 
immediately form so many new animals. 
In the month of May, 1772, Dicquemare cut off all the ten- 
tacula from an actinia, and in a short time after they rebudded. 
He cut them afresh on the 30th of July following, and they 
were reproduced in the same way in less than a month. An 
actinia cleft through the middle of the body, appeared, after 
the end of some months, as completely organized as before it 
was mutilated. These experiments, and many others, the 
detail of which might prove tedious, demonstrate in a positive 
manner the faculty possessed by the actiniz of reorganiza- 
tion in their destroyed parts. 
