174 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
that way than ever the malstrém is to northern mariners. Once 
within the suction of the current, nothing can save the unfortunate 
animalcule from a sure destruction. 
Some of the species of this group are furnished with another 
organ, which has received the name of the wbracule. It is a 
hollow filament, situated at the upper and outer angle of each 
cell. It is filled with a substance which is at once fibrous and 
contractile, and admits of its performing some very remarkable 
movements, which occur regularly and at very short intervals. 
At first the filament inclines itself towards the base of the cell, 
trembles, oscillates, and seems to sink; presently it recovers itself, 
descends on the opposite side, and repeats the same manceuvre, in 
the same order, and in the same time. It is difficult to imagine 
what function this organ performs; it would appear that it is 
beyond the control of the will of the zoophyte, and is governed by 
involuntary muscles, for its motions continue after the creature has 
been injured. Perhaps the best surmise is, that it cleanses the 
orifice of the cell, and probably has something to do with the 
removal of that which the digestive organs reject. 
Even from this cursive description of the bryozoa, it is evident 
that its organisation is superior to and more complicated than that 
of the anthozoa. This a closer examination of the anatomy of 
the two classes conclusively establishes. The digestive apparatus 
of the bryozoa is not merely a bag, with one orifice which serves 
at once for the reception of the food and the rejection of the 
refuse, with no distinct stomach and no intestines, like the polypes 
which inhabit the polypiers; but these zoophytes possess a mouth, 
a pharynx, a gullet, a gizzard, a membranous stomach, and intes- 
tines which have an opening of their own. There are some species 
known in which the gizzard is provided with a certain number of 
interior teeth, forming a marvellous pavement—an animated mill, 
which grinds the food before it passes into the second stomach. 
The organisation of this small and obscure creature reveals to us 
a wonderful series of combinations; here is indeed an ingenious 
adaptation, surpassing anything which human genius could devise. 
Most naturalists have now agreed to class with the bryozoa 
