PLANARIA FELINA. 57 



pristine motion ; but their figure had none 

 of its proper proportions ; nor was it before 

 the twenty-eighth of November, or eigh- 

 teen days from separation, that it could be 

 called regular and well defined, and resem- 

 bling the shape of unmutilated planariae. 

 Their size was always inconsiderable ; and 

 if ever a portion thus sundered by the hand 

 of Nature grows as large as the trunk which 

 has lost it, I can affirm that it is not in a 

 state of confinement. 



Probably a fragment successively sepa- 

 rates as the new tail is completed ; a fact 

 which deserves investigation, as elucidating 

 the great extent of generation by sponta- 

 neous division. The mutilated trunk seems 

 as well adapted for reproduction after lo- 

 sing its extremity, as when entire. 



Many may perhaps conceive, that the 

 defective organs exist in miniature in the 

 severed portions ; and that dissection, aid- 

 ed by powerful magnifiers, might bring 

 them into view. It would be hardy to 

 maintain an opposite doctrine ; for extreme 



