ANTHOZOA. 



49 



admiration. Slowly the unsightly fabric swells, as 

 though by imbibing the water in which it is immersed, 

 and as it dilates to a larger and still larger size, assumes a 

 transparency that it did not possess before. When fully 

 expanded, little pits or cells appear upon its sm-face, and 

 from each of these there issues forth a living flower, for 



<CU 



1 nv .^ 



^ V 



H 



'if 



f 







^J-**' 



- -^5 



r- 



c 



^ . / 



Fig. 32. — alcyox. 



such it seems, which gradually expanding till it has at- 

 tained its full development, begins to fish for j^rey in the 

 siuToimding M'ater by means of the petal-like tentacles 

 placed around its mouth. The food thus obtained, 

 having been conveyed into the stomach of the Polype 

 that caught it, and digested there, is absorbed into the 



D 



