WdGOE SHOVES GATS. ig 
closed end of its bag-like body. Trembley saw a long plank which 
was so perfectly edged with them that it appeared as though it were 
ornamented with living fringe. Nearly all the river snails carry 
some on their shells. The mollusk is their carriage, and whether it 
swim or crawl, with its lazy motion it transports its passenger far- 
ther in a few minutes than ever the polype could have travelled 
in a single day. Other polypes travel by express upon the sheath 
of a caddice fly, that quick-moving and lively aquatic larva, which 
darts along the beds of pools and rivulets. The polypes balance 
themselves easily and gracefully, stretching out in every direction 
their hair-like arms. These organs are as long as, and sometimes 
longer, than the body of the animal; they are covered with 
vibratile cilia which are microscopic, and make 250 movements in 
one minute ! 
When an unfortunate animalcule comes near enough the polype 
to touch its arms, it is immediately seized and drawn to its mouth; 
the tentacule wrap round it, the bag contracts, and the animal di- 
gests its food in peace. When its repast is finished, it gets rid of 
all that is useless by a species of vomiting. This is the case with 
all animals constructed on this principle. They have only one 
opening through which the food is taken into the system, and from 
which also is thrown out that which is no longer useful. 
Sometimes the polypes fasten themselves together in a long 
line. If a worm happen to find itself among them, it is instantly 
garrotted by a thousand arms in every part of its body. In what- 
ever confusion the polypes were, instantly all is order, and the 
multitude which were interlaced like tangled threads, all stretch 
themselves straight and separate from each other without the 
slightest effort. 
The hydra sometimes manages to swallow a quantity of food 
three or four times larger than its own body. It can enclose in its 
long stomach as many as a dozen water-bugs, one after the other, 
its distended body bulging with each insect. When a hydra has 
sorged too much, it falls to the bottom of the water. What else 
can it do? Sometimes it ejects a part, so that it may be able to 
digest the rest—surely a wise determination! This voracity of the 
polypes proves that St. Francis de Sales said a little too much 
when he urged men to follow the example of the brute creation in 
