MEMBRAN1POEA. 331 



white polypes were popping out of their cells, and anon 

 with the quickness of lightning darting back into them 

 again. But I observed, what was quite a new sight to me, 

 one of the polypes which had broken loose from its cell, 

 and was voyaging through what must have seemed to it a 

 vast field of waters. To the naked eye it was almost invi- 

 sible, but when magnified by the lens it was like a beautiful 

 little hand-bell, the bell, which was bowl-shaped, being 

 formed by about twenty tentacula, and the body, or part of 

 the body, constituting the handle. Beautiful as it was, I 

 could not help regarding it with pity. I fear it was not a 

 voyage of pleasure. It w r as bounding about, but its efforts 

 seemed convulsive. It closed its little arms, as if it had 

 been clasping them in anguish, and then by a sudden jerk 

 threw them out again. Perhaps it had been torn by vio- 

 lence from its home, and knew not the way back to it, so 

 that its wanderings may have been its misfortune and not 

 its fault. I soon lost sight of it, and it may have perished. 

 Less to be pitied, however, than many thoughtless youths, 

 who intentionally go astray, and who, being launched on a 

 dangerous sea without helm or compass or chart, are driven 

 about and tossed, and terminate their guilty career amidst 

 blackness, arid darkness, and tempest. 



