88 ZOOPHYTES. 
bud alike, though successively, there are certainly strong reasons for 
admitting the above supposition. In the Sertularia tribe of zoophytes, 
the analogy is perfect; for, it is well known that buds and ovules are 
never simultaneously produced by an individual polyp. Budding 
lengthens the branches, and vesicles of ovules proceed like a cluster 
of flowers from the side of some polyp on the branch, that long 
before had ceased to bud. 
86. We may glance here at a few interesting relations between the 
structure of a flower and of an Actinia, which, although not essential 
to the subject before us, may suggest some deductions in illustration 
of each. The flower or plant individual, has, in general, its radiate 
series of sepals and petals,—one or both,—for the elaboration of the 
parts within: so has the polyp its star or coronet of tentacles, which 
often contribute to the aeration of the nutrient fluids. The flower 
contains, in other internal series, stamens and pistils (spermatic and 
ovarian organs), concentric with the sepals and petals: the Actinoid 
polyp includes within, corresponding series of organs around the 
centre, part of which are ovarian, and part spermatic, and these organs 
have some relation in number to the number of tentacles. The 
clusters of ovules, which form from the ovarian lamelle, have, there- 
fore a very similar situation in the polyp to the ovules or seeds of a 
common flower; the circular series of ovarian lamelle corresponding 
to the circular series of carpels or the placenta within, and the ovules 
they form to the seed produced within the carpels. ‘The coincidences 
are as near as are consistent with the different modes of nutrition in 
the two kingdoms of nature, and they may be received as sufficient 
evidence, if such were needed, that the flower is a simple plant- 
individual. 
Between the budding individuals in plants and the budding Acti- 
noid polyp, there seems to be a less perfect resemblance; for the 
budding polyps in these zoophytes are similar to the oviparous polyps 
in external form and in the number and character of their tentacles. 
Yet, as it has been shown by physiologists, that the green leaves of 
the leaf-bud and the petals of the flower, are nearly identical organs 
in origin and structure,—the latter being only a variety of the former, 
—the discrepancy is more apparent than real. ‘The parts of a 
flower, though seemingly in circles, have a spiral arrangement, as 
well as the leaves of the leaf-bud ; and the difference in general form 
arises from the fact that the leaf-spire is long drawn out, owing to the 
continued and rapid elongation of the bud, while in the flower, the 
