88 ZOOPHYTES. 



bud alike, though successively, there are certainly strong reasons for 

 admitting the above supposition. In the Sertularia tribe of zoophytes, 

 the analogy is perfect ; for, it is well known that buds and ovules are 

 never simultaneously produced by an individual polyp. Budding 

 lengthens the branches, and vesicles of ovules proceed like a cluster 

 of flowers from the side of some polyp on the branch, that long 

 before had ceased to bud. 



86. We may glance here at a few interesting relations between the 

 structure of a flower and of an Actinia, which, although not essential 

 to the subject before us, may suggest some deductions in illustration 

 of each. The flower or plant individual, has, in general, its radiate 

 series of sepals and petals, one or both, for the elaboration of the 

 parts within : so has the polyp its star or coronet of tentacles, which 

 often contribute to the aeration of the nutrient fluids. The flower 

 contains, in other internal series, stamens and pistils (spermatic and 

 ovarian organs), concentric with the sepals and petals : the Actinoid 

 polyp includes within, corresponding series of organs around the 

 centre, part of which are ovarian, and part spermatic, and these organs 

 have some relation in number to the number of tentacles. The 

 clusters of ovules, which form from the ovarian lamellae, have, there- 

 fore a very similar situation in the polyp to the ovules or seeds of a 

 common flower; the circular series of ovarian lamellae corresponding 

 to the circular series of carpels or the placenta within, and the ovules 

 they form to the seed produced within the carpels. The coincidences 

 are as near as are consistent with the different modes of nutrition in 

 the two kingdoms of nature, and they may be received as sufficient 

 evidence, if such were needed, that the flower is a simple plant- 

 individual. 



Between the budding individuals in plants and the budding Acti- 

 noid polyp, there seems to be a less perfect resemblance ; for the 

 budding polyps in these zoophytes are similar to the oviparous polyps 

 in external form and in the number and character of their tentacles. 

 Yet, as it has been shown by physiologists, that the green leaves of 

 the leaf-bud and the petals of the flower, are nearly identical organs 

 in origin and structure, the latter being only a variety of the former, 

 the discrepancy is more apparent than real. The parts of a 

 flower, though seemingly in circles, have a spiral arrangement, as 

 well as the leaves of the leaf-bud ; and the difference in general form 

 arises from the fact that the leaf-spire is long drawn out, owing to the 

 continued and rapid elongation of the bud, while in the flower, the 



