186 HISTORY OF 



nounce on their being of the animal, and not 

 of the vegetable kingdom ; and he called them 

 polypi, from the great resemblance to those larger 

 ones that were found in the ocean. Still, how- 

 ever, their properties were neglected, and their 

 history unknown. 



Mr Trembley was the person to whom we owe 

 the first discovery of the amazing properties and 

 powers of this little vivacious creature : he divided 

 this class of animals into four different kinds ; in- 

 to those inclining to green, those of a brownish 

 cast, those of a flesh colour, and those which he 

 calls the Polype de Panache. The differences of 

 structure in these, as also of colour, are observ- 

 able enough ; but the manner of their subsisting, 

 of seizing their prey, and of their propagation, is 

 pretty nearly the same in all. 



Whoever has looked with care into the bottom 

 of a wet ditch, when the water is stagnant, and 

 the sun has been powerful, may remember to 

 have seen many little transparent lumps of jelly, 

 about the size of a pea, and flatted on one side : 

 such also as have examined the under side of the 

 broad-leafed weeds that grow on the surface of 

 the water, must have observed them studded with 

 a number of these little jelly-like substances, 

 which were probably then disregarded, because 

 their nature and history were unknown. These 

 little substances, however, were no other than 

 living polypi gathered up into a quiescent state, 

 and seemingly inanimate, because either undis- 

 turbed, or not excited by the calls of appetite to 

 action. When they are seen exerting themselves, 



