14 COMPARISONS OF STRUCTURE IN ANIMALS. 



nutrition and respiration. Many of these 

 beings are beautiMly phosphorescent; some 

 exude an acrid humour, which gives pain 

 to the hand incautiously appHed to them. 

 There is no distinction of sexes, and repro- 

 duction is either by the simple division of the 

 original body into several parts, which ulti- 

 mately assume the characteristic form, or by 

 granules, which become gradually developed 

 and detached from the parent; or by gem- 

 mules or buds, which, when thrown off, in due 

 time display their specific characteristics. 



But we must not extend these general ob- 

 servations by entering into particulars ; suffice 

 it, in the present place, to have alluded to them. 

 Yet we have said enough to show the amazing 

 extent of the animal kingdom, and the bewil- 

 dering multiplicity, variety, and strangeness of 

 the forms with which life is invested. Among 

 the lowest groups of the animal ci'eation, in 

 particular, we are perpetually startled and 

 ready to ask, Can these things truly belong to 

 the animal kingdom? Can this plant-like 

 assemblage of delicate stems and branches, 

 studded with miniature cups and vases, or bell- 

 like flowerets, and rooted upon a shell or pebble 

 cast by the waves on the sea-beach — can this 



