ZOOPHYTES. 307 



which are generally, though erroneously, called horns, 

 at the extremities of the longer of which are the eyes. 

 These tentacula they have the power of withdrawing into 

 their body, in the same manner as the finger of a glove 

 might be drawn in, by taking hold of it in the inside. The 

 Garden and Hedge Snails are known to every one. There 

 is found in the woods and hedges of Northamptonshire, a 

 kind called the Esculent Snail, which is so large as to 

 be more than two inches in diameter. This species are 

 in great request in Germany, and some parts of Europe, 

 as food ; and are considered so delicate, that, at Vienna, 

 the price charged at an inn for seven of them, was the 

 same as that charged for a plate of veal or beef. 



ORDER IV. ZOOPHYTES. 



It has not been till of late years, that the animals of 

 the present tribe have been completely and distinctly 

 separated from the vegetable kingdom. They are even 

 yet called Zoophytes, or animal plants, from their having 

 some external resemblance to plants ; but they are, in 

 every essential respect, perfect animals. All the species 

 are inhabitants of the sea. Most of them take root, and 

 grow up into hard and solid stems, from different parts of 

 which the animals appear ; some, however, as the polypes 

 an,d sponges, are entirely soft. The tribes most familiarly 

 known, are the Corals, Sponges, and Polypes. 



CORALS of all kinds are divided into numerous stony 

 and solid branches. Their outer surface is covered with 

 a thin substance, like bark, which is porous and fleshy ; 



