76 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
or ten, tentacule—fine, filiform, and flexible arms—arranged round 
the mouth in the form of a crown. Thus the bag is the body, 
the opening is the mouth, the cavity is the stomach, and the tenta- 
cule the arms. This, then, is the whole polype! 
If we compare this simple organisation with the wonderful 
creation man, or even with a much less eminent member of the 
animal kingdom, we should be inclined to say that the polype was 
imperfect. Yet this is by no means the case. Surely an animal 
which possesses all the members necessary to its existence is not 
an imperfect animal! The want of organs which are absolutely 
AN ISOLATED POLYPE. 
necessary to existence would constitute imperfection. In reality 
perfection consists not in the number of parts, but in their unity, 
and their capability of performing those functions for which they 
were designed. Every polype is just as perfect in its way as a larger 
and more finely developed animal; and it would as absurd to deny 
this as to assert that an elephart was not perfect without wings, or 
a horse without fins. 
Naturalists often employ the term “imperfect,” but only rela- 
tively. It implies that such and such a species presents an 
organisation less complicated than some other. In this sense we 
shall use the term. 
The polype seeks the light, and is sensible of the least noise. It 
attaches itself to aquatic plants and other submerged bodies by the 
