188 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



their original arrangement, for they endeavoured to return 

 to it, and being at times successful in their efforts, they were 

 again found in statu quo; but as this did not suit the fancy 

 of the operator, he fell upon means of preventing them from 

 undoing his work, and after a short trial of this novel con- 

 dition, they seemed quite satisfied with it, devoured their 

 prey as greedily as ever, yielded young ones as before from 

 their polype-bearing bodies, lived to a good old age, and 

 died surrounded by their offspring to the fourth or fifth 

 generation. 



" Rerum natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota est." 



Plin. Nat. Hist. 



" Art them proportion'd to the Hydra's length, 

 Who by his wounds received augmented strength ? 

 He raised a hundred hissing heads in air ; 

 When one I lopp'd, up sprang a dreadful pair ; 

 By his wounds fertile, and with slaughter strong, 

 Singly I quell'd him, and stretch'd dead along." Ovid. Metam. 



1. HYDRA VIRIDIS, the Green Hydra. (Plate XII. 

 fig. 39.) 



Hab. In ponds and ditches, on aquatic plants. 



Baker states, that the arms of the green Hydra are so short, 

 that it cannot clasp round a small worm, but can only pincl 



