CAVA Rae Rolex, 
THE POLYPIERS. 
PoLYPES do not always live in an isolated state; they are fre- 
quently gregarious; the temporary genealogical tree we mentioned 
in the last chapter becomes permanent, and the family has received 
the name of folypier. Linneus called the association a compound 
animal (Animalia composita). These members of the same colony 
live in perfect harmony; they are a nation of relatives, united 
together by the closest of physical bonds! They occupy the same 
house, each possessing in it a chamber, but as no member of the 
community can on any account leave his room, they never can 
visit or annoy one another. Attached to their little chamber, these 
semi-recluses watch for the food which chance—or rather we 
should say Providence—never fails to provide, and what is eaten 
by one mouth profits the whole community. 
Impelled by a marvellous instinct, the polypes all labour 
together at the same work. Isolated they would be well nigh 
powerless ; united they are strong. They have a life which belongs 
to the community as well as an individual life. They have the 
same wants, the same tastes, the same ideas—and truly wonderful 
ideas! They share their joys and their sorrows; and if it be true 
that troubles are lightened when they are told, and that pleasures 
are increased when they are enjoyed with others, then, indeed, the 
polypes ought to be the happiest of animalcules. 
The polypiers are not thoroughly understood. It is only by the 
help of the microscope, and by the study of the living individuals, 
that we can learn their organisation, or their mode of life, or how 
to classify them in their species and varieties. We are beginning 
to understand them better, but there is yet much to discover. 
M. Lacaze-Duthiers, for instance, found the Aztipathes glaberrima 
and the Gorgonta tuberculata (Lamarck), the Letopathes glaberrima 
(Grey), and the Letopathes Lamarckii (Haime), all on one and the 
