IIYDROID ZOOPHYTES. 53 



There is something in it also which reminds me of the 

 pappus of a dandehon floating on the breeze/' 



Tlris Zoophyte has the power of throwing off the poWpi ; 

 or rather, the little polypi are able to detach themselves and 

 still to dance merrily in the water. "Immense numbers of 

 these tiny sylph-like creatures were successively produced 

 from the Laomedea in the glass jar, so that the water at 

 length seemed quite alive with them; but I could not find 

 tliat a single individual either became stationary, or changed 

 its form, or grew. In the course of a day or two they all 

 died.''' — Perhaps a salutary example to young people in too 

 great a hurry to become independent of parental care. 



To describe one of the polypes more particularly, it seems 

 most to resemble an inverted umbrella with a netted disc 

 across its diameter ; on the convex side is a central fleshy 

 protuberance forming the foot. The flatter disc is divided 

 by four angles, between each of which are six thread-like ten- 

 tacles, — twenty-four of them altogether, — which ]3lay about 

 in all directions. Placed at equal distances, on the margin, 

 between the tentacles, are four pairs of very eye-like globes, 

 which however, from their structure, are believed to be 

 rather organs of hearing. Altogether, these little polypi 

 have the appearance of miniature Mechts^e or Jelly-fish. 



