“SY 
UL 
Crease TER V Trt. 
THE POLYPES. 
THE polypes are mighty people! Some of them have been 
known to attain the gigantic size of one-third of an inch! They are 
by no means rare. ‘Their organisation and the homes which they 
build for themselves are very favourite subjects with naturalists, and 
the polypes are decidedly popular. Whenever we want to express 
a comparison between one finely developed species, and another 
whose organisation is of the simplest, we are in the habit of saying, 
what is well nigh a proverb, “/vom a polype to a man!” and 
yet the quasi-popularity of this curious animal is confined almost 
to a knowledge of its name! For instance, ask a person if a 
polype be an animal which inhabits the seas or rivers ? if it possess 
a head or a tail ? you will see what the answer will be! Nothing is 
more common than the name, and for this reason we dedicate a 
chapter to the polypes. 
The most prominent member of this group is the /resh-water 
polype, or Hydra viridis. It looks like a little straight bag, tubular, 
semi-transparent, greenish, open at one end, and fashioned like a 
trumpet’s mouth, having round the opening six, occasionally eight 
