THE POLYPUS. 187 



they put on a very different appearance from that 

 when at rest. To conceive a just idea of their 

 figure, we may suppose the finger of a glove cut 

 off at the bottom ; we may suppose also several 

 threads or horns planted round the edge like a 

 fringe. The hollow of this finger will give us an 

 idea of the stomach of the animal ; the threads 

 issuing forth from the edges may be considered 

 as the arms, or feelers, with which it hunts for its 

 prey. The animal, at its greatest extent, is sel- 

 dom seen above an inch and a half long, but it is 

 much shorter when it is contracted and at rest : 

 it is furnished neither with muscles nor rings, 

 and its manner of lengthening or contracting it- 

 self more resembles that of the snail, than worms 

 or any other insect. The polypus contracts itself 

 more or less, in proportion as it is touched, or as 

 the water is agitated in which they are seen. 

 Warmth animates them, and cold benumbs them, 

 but it requires a degree of cold approaching con- 

 gelation, before they are reduced to perfect inac- 

 tivity : those of an inch have generally their arms 

 double, often thrice as long as their bodies. The 

 arms, where the animal is not disturbed, and the 

 season not unfavourable, are thrown about in va- 

 rious directions, in order to seize and entangle its 

 little prey ; sometimes three or four of the arms 

 are thus employed, while the rest are contracted 

 like the horns of a snail, within the animal's body. 

 It seems capable of giving what length it pleases 

 to these arms ; it contracts and extends them at 

 pleasure, and stretches them only in proportion to 

 the remoteness of the object it would seize. 



