462 



THE MlCriOSCOPE. 



» i' 



H' 



PoLypiFERA. — The chief characteristic of this vast race 

 of animals is, that tlieir mouths are surrounded by 

 ■h-S- radiaiiiig tentacula, arranged some- 

 whatlike the ray of a flower^ and hence 

 the term Zoophyte. So plant-like, 

 indeed, are their form;, that the early 

 observers regarded them as vegetating 

 il^^HSHiP'') stones, and invented many theories to 

 explain their growth. 



They belong to a sub-kingdom 

 termed Coelenterata, now divided and 

 ^:rwx 3 subdivided by Professor Huxley into 

 the following : — 



Septa, *o., X 5 or 6. Septa, &c., x 4. 



Simple sof I -bodied. 



1. ACTIVID.'E. 1. BEROIDiE. 



f/ 'pgjjii^ii Actinea, Miiiyus. Cijdippi;, Cesium. 



Compound — Skeleton spicular. 



2. ZOANTIIID/E. 2. ALCYONIDK. 



ZoanUius. Alcjonium. 



Compound — Skeleton sclerobasic. 



3. ANTIPATHIUi'E. 3. GoRGONIDA. 



Antipulhes. Goryonia, Jsis, 



Col allium. 



Hliv''^^ raSSw ■? Compound and Simple — Skelclcn thecal — continuous. 



m 



"\^! 



4. PERrOKATA. 



Puriles, Mudrepora. 



o. Tabulata. 



Millepora, Serialopora. 



G. Aporosa. 

 Cyatliina, Oculnia. 

 Astneci, Funtjia. 



4. TUBIPORIU^E. 



Tubipord. 



5. RUGOSA. 



Stavria, Cyatliuiionid. 

 C;i (liho p h I I Hum. 

 Cijstipk'jllum. 



Opposed to all our common ideas 



of animal life is this singular portion 



p of creation. If we cut a limb off a tree, 



or sever that of an animal, these parts 



^. ,,„ . , . , will wither and decompose, by passins; 



Fig. 230.— //i/erou/ . ,i c o A ® 



Zoophuics. into otlier lorins or matter-. Cut a tree 



across its middle, and its natural synnnetry is irrepa- 

 rably disfigured; sht it down its centre, and it is de- 

 stroyed : all animals so treated suffcn- instant dcatli, with 

 the exception of the polype tribe ; for they will put forth 

 new lini))s, form a new head or tail, and if slit, become 

 two separate perfect creatures. 



