1332 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



is connected with the pith of the whole branch. 

 Around the mouth are numerous tentacles excessively 

 irritable, capable of stinging and paralyzing prey; 

 and the spectacle of hosts of these, all working for the 

 common good of the branching animal, is very beau- 

 tiful. Sometimes there is much red in the color, at 

 other times green, yellow, or a dull tint; and in or- 

 der to relieve the sameness of outline presented by 

 thousands of cups, their horny margin is spined or 

 toothed. In full vigor during the summer, and liv- 

 ing through the winter and probably for several 

 years, these cups with their tentacled polypes con- 

 tribute to the growth and nutrition of the whole. 

 They all work for a common end, and that is for the 

 persistence of the life of the colony. They live on 

 microscopic things in the water, such as minute ova, 

 or the young of things like unto themselves, and on 

 animalcules, and probably on the moving spores of 

 sea-weeds. As the spring advances, the larger and 

 closed cups begin to grow by budding from the stem, 

 and they become filled with a gummy substance with 

 a few granules in it, and somewhat resembling the 

 pith of the stem. As the closed cup grows, it often 

 becomes marked on the outside with rings or belts, 

 and it becomes a very prominent object on the horny- 

 looking Garland polype. These close'd cups are con- 

 cerned in the reproduction of the creature, for after 

 a few weeks the substance inside them is seen to 

 collect into bunches of round or oval bodies, often 

 yellow in color, or of other tints. By and by the cup 

 bursts, or a sort of trap-door opens at the top, and 

 these things escape. They are small, covered with 



