PLANARIA FLEXILIS. 17 



contents of the stomach, and frequently it 

 carries a hump a quarter of an inch high. 



One of three planariae which had been co- 

 piously supplied with food, proved incapa- 

 ble of swallowing the whole quantity that 

 it had attempted, whence some part re- 

 mained protruding from the body. In this 

 condition, the animal, as well as the others, 

 which had manifested nearly equal voracity, 

 sought the surface of the watef, where 

 they lay supine and motionless. About 

 thirty hours afterwards, two of them exhi- 

 bited a singular spectacle : a wide rent ap- 

 peared in the middle of the body, tearing 

 it almost asunder ; while each endeavoured 

 to liberate itself of the half-digested food ; 

 and incipient rending nearer the edges was 

 also perceptible in the upper part of the 

 third. Previous to so unexpected a conse- 

 quence of repletion, indications which I 

 have never been able to verify, induced 

 me to suspect the probable existence of 

 apertures in different parts of the animal, 

 whereby the food proving incommodious or 



