NATURAL HISTORY. 57 
the vegetable and the animal nature, is abun- 
dantly attested by the voluminous descriptions 
of them that have appeared since their disco- 
very by Anthony van Leeuwenhoek in 1703, 
and the investigation of their structure by Mr. 
Trembley, in 1740. Mr. Baker has devoted a 
moderate octavo volume to it; I have therefore 
fewer novelties to offer. My principal object is 
to present a more accurate and complete graphic 
representation of them. In so doing, it may be 
remarked, that the figures of this animal that 
are already before the public have a closer re- 
semblance to it than is generally cbservable in 
portraitures of living miscroscopic subjects, and 
shows the verity of Dr. Goring’s remarks on 
the difficulties of making drawings from living 
animals.* This creature being more quiescent 
in its habits, and simpler in its structure than 
any other with which I am acquainted, may ac- 
count for its being more accurately delineated. 
Plate 7 exhibits a magnified view of a group 
of polype in different states of contraction, and 
some with their prey within them; the small 
circle shows them of the real size. 
The polype is composed of a granulated gela- 
* See ‘* Microscopic Illustrations,’’ Exordium. 
Dio 
