80 ITS STRUCTURE. 



of this Zoophyte, newly cast up, be placed in a vessel 

 of sea-water, it will soon acquire favour in our eyes. 

 The tough, orange skin, when closely looked at, will be 

 found studded with innumerable star-like points, each 

 furnished with eight rays, and marking the orifice of the 

 cell in which a Polype is lodged. When the polypidom 

 has remained a while in the water, its polypes, if still 

 alive, will gradually protrude themselves from the starry 

 points, pushing out a cylindrical body, clear as crystal, 

 fluted like a column, and terminated by a flower-like, 

 eight-rayed mouth ; the whole surface, at last, becoming 

 densely clothed with these animated flowers. The un- 

 sightly aspect of the trunk, which reminded us of fin- 

 gers or toes, is now forgotten, just as we forget the fleshy 

 branches of a cactus when we see it clothed with its 

 gorgeous flowers. Nor is the internal structure of our 

 Zoophyte less worthy of examination and admiration. 

 Not to speak of its minute anatomy, a simple longitu- 

 dinal section, if examined with a moderate lens, will 

 reveal a complicated system of inosculating canals, which 

 form a sort of circulation through the mass, by connect- 

 ing with the rest of the body the Polype-cells, which are 

 placed immediately under the outer skin. These tubes 

 are bound together by a fibrous network, and lie im- 

 bedded in a transparent jelly, which forms the fleshy 

 part of the compound animal. The eggs are lodged in 

 the tubes, and at length discharged through the mouth. 

 Such is the simple structure of these animals, which 

 are nevertheless arranged with as much care and nicety, 

 in proportion to their organization, as we find in ani- 

 mals much higher in the scale of being. 



