ZOOPHYTES IN GENERAL. 1?1 



phytes, a name implying vegetable nature endued 

 with animal life ; and, indeed, in some the marks 

 of the animal are so few, that it is difficult to give 

 their place in nature with precision, or to tell 

 whether it is a plant or an insect that is the ob- 

 ject of our consideration. 



Should it be asked what it is that constitutes 

 the difference between animal and vegetable life, 

 what it is that lays the line that separates those 

 two great kingdoms from each other, it would be 

 difficult, perhaps we should find it impossible, to 

 return an answer. The power of motion cannot 

 form this distinction, since some vegetables are 

 possessed of motion, and many animals are totally 

 without it. The sensitive plant has obviously a 

 greater variety of motions than the oyster or the 

 pholas. The animal that fills the acorn-shell is 

 immovable, and can only close its lid to defend 

 itself from external injury, while the flow r er which 

 goes by the name of the fly-trap, seems to close 

 upon the flies that light upon it, and that attempt 

 to rifle it of its honey. The animal in this instance 

 seems to have scarcely a power of self-defence ; 

 the vegetable not only guards its possessions, but 

 seizes upon the robber that would venture to in- 

 vade them. In like manner, the methods of pro- 

 pagation give no superiority to the lower rank of 

 animals. On the contrary, vegetables are frequent- 

 ly produced more conformably to the higher ranks 

 of the creation ; and though some plants are pro- 

 duced by cuttings from others, yet the general 

 manner of propagation is from seeds laid in the 

 womb of the earth, where they are hatched into 

 ! 



